Angel
by Shaeme
Summary: Norman is assigned to become an assistant driver inside the Fury, but is surprised by the fact that the Fury-crew contains a young woman. As he is taken on into the group, Norman competes with finding out what she is doing here, and how and why she got here. All while Fury continues fighting Krauts in Nazi-Germany.
1. The Freshman

The ground was muddy and sloppy, which kept Norman from walking without trouble. His feet were somewhat heavier, and his boots that were about a size too big increased the effect. He was assigned to find Sergeant Collier, and the only tip he'd had was that he looked tough, and had the down sides of his hair shaved off. Which about applied to everybody here. Though he got lucky, as the first person he asked was him he was looking for.

'First Sergeant Collier?' The man did not stop walking so Norman was required to keep up with him.

'Maybe. What the fuck are you?' he replied. 'Private Ellison. I was told to report to you, I'm your new assistant driver.' The man stopped walking and started studying Norman closely and critically.

'No you are not.' he then said. 'Yes. Yes I am.' 'God damn it! Who told you this?' Sergeant Collier said. 'Master Sergeant with the clipboard there sir.' he pointed at some younger superior. 'Bullshit!' Collier shouted. 'He's right there… he…' Norman stopped talking. He just didn't know what to say, but it seemed like Collier seemed to understand.

'What's your name?' he asked. 'Norman…' 'How long have you been in the army?' He sighed. 'Eight weeks.' Collier now sighed as well, but then pointed over to a Sherman some yards away.

'That's home.' It had 'FURY' written on its 76mm gun. 'Do as you're told, don't get too close to anyone.' Norman slowly nodded and then walked over to the tank, as Collier walked into a different direction. There were three men outside, seeming to repair the machine gun placed next to the main hatch. One of them was singing a biblical song, Norman recognized but he couldn't say he was able to sing along. He reached out his hand towards one that was squatted close to the ground as he had just laid down the barrel of the gun for repair. He was the one that had been singing.

'Hi, I'm Norman.' He had a moustache and had a cigarette in his mouth while he looked up, but he refused to take on his hand while he rose up and removed the cigarette from between his lips. Norman just awkwardly pulled back his hand. _Now say something, Norman._

'Which… which way is the front?' he asked.

' "Which way is the front?",' the moustache repeated his eyes were somewhat read and he had a tiny fresh scar on his right cheek. 'Hmm. All around us, kid, 'cause this is Germany, we're surrounded by Krauts. Ain't that right Grady?' 'That's right.' The second guy replied. Norman had already stated that this was the ugliest guy, himself included.

A man that looked quite exotic, maybe Mexican walked over to them and took Norman's bag from his shoulder. Norman let it be, but only up until the guy started going through his stuff. He noticed how the Mexican guy had taken Norman's diary out of his bag.

'Can I have my book back please?' The Mexican didn't listen but looked at him in a surly way.

'Where are your cigarettes?' he asked. 'I don't smoke.' Norman replied. 'You're a bastard.' Before Norman could answer, the man with the moustache spoke up.

'Did you go to tank-school?' the moustache asked. 'Tank-school? No. I've never even seen the inside of a tank.' The three looked at each other in subtle astonishment. 'I'm a clerk typist.' Norman added. 'I was heading to Fifth Corps HQ, they pulled me off the truck and they sent me here. This has got to be a mistake.' He said while he retook the bag from the Mexican.

'Mistake? The army don't make mistakes.' the ugly one said.

'You from Missouri?' the moustache asked. 'No.' Norman said. 'Are you from Chicago?' the Mexican asked but Norman shook his head. 'Nah, you from Arkansas ain't you?' the ugly one asked. 'No, I'm from Pittsburg…'

'Hey, shut up man, nobody gives a fuck where you from.' the ugly one interrupted and the Mexican seemed to think it funny because he laughed.

'Are you a praying man?' the moustache asked. Norman slowly nodded. 'Yeah, I go to church.' It was silent for a quick moment.

'Which denomination are you? Episcopalian?' Norman didn't answer. 'Yeah you are. You're a mainliner, ain't you?' The moustache grinned. 'Yes. I am.' Norman now said.

'Are you saved?' the moustache asked. 'I'm baptized.' Norman replied. The ugly one, started laughing.

'That's not what he said. See, you gotta listen.'

'Are you saved?' the moustache repeated. Norman did not reply so there was a brief silence.

'Wait until you see,' moustache said. 'See what?' Norman asked. 'What a man can do to another man.' Sergeant Collier returned.

'Before you find Jesus, why don't you tell us what the fuck you're doing here?' The ugly one said.

'He's our new assistant driver.' Collier muttered.

'What?' the ugly one spat out. 'Don, what the fuck, why? We've got Aggie for that.' the moustache said while pointing out his hand back at the tank, Norman was not completely sure what he meant with that.

'Don't you think that's exactly what I said to that officer son of a bitch, what's his name? The higher officers didn't approve so they sent this kid.' Collier looked at Norman now.

'Nothing personal. Come on boys, work him in.' Collier left again and the boys seemed extremely reluctant to follow his order, but they eventually did it. They started off introducing themselves shortly, by stating their names and their position inside the tank. So they were known as Grady, Gordo and Bible, but Norman doubted that the moustache's name was actually Bible.

'Why don't you go inside and take a look at your seat then?'

'Wait, wait,' Gordo spoke. 'We've gotta tell him the rules first.'

'You're right Gordo, Boyd tell this fucker the rules.' Grady said.

'Okay. Rule number one: do as you're fucking told. Rule number two: you don't touch any personal belongings from anyone else. Rule number three…' Bible seemed to slow down just to make sure Norman would understand the severity, but it all didn't go fast enough for Gordo.

'Rule number three is you don't fuck with Angel. Not only because it's a rule –just for you though- but trust me it's for your own good either way.' Gordo said.

'Who's Angel?' Norman asked after which Bible –who was apparently officially named Boyd- started grinning and slammed on the hood of the tank.

'Aggie, get the fuck outta there!' he yelled. The main hatch opened up and Norman was flabbergasted. He was completely struck. It was a woman coming out. A young, stunningly beautiful woman.

'What the fuck do you want?' she yelled back but she kept silent when she saw Norman. 'Who the fuck's that?' Both Grady and Gordo started laughing.

'He's the new assistant driver.' Bible said, and then the woman's face turned into a death stare.

'What?' she said, after which she climbed out whole and let herself slide onto solid ground. 'This fucking kid? He's like fucking seventeen.' she said. 'I'm eighteen, actually.' Norman said but the woman raised her hand for him to shush. 'Shut up. Where's Don?' she asked Gordo, but at that exact moment Collier arrived at Fury's parking place again.

'Don.' The woman caught his attention immediately. 'What the fuck's this supposed to mean?' Don looked at her silently and then starting tying luggage onto the outside of the tank.

'You mad, Agnes?' Collier said with a small grin. So what was her name? Agnes, Aggie or Angel? Norman had lost track.

'Am I mad? Of course I'm mad, is this kid really going to take up my fucking place?'

'Listen, I can't change it; the platoon-crew division is up to my superiors. All I can say is that they're never gonna get you outta Fury so don't worry about that.' Collier said.

'So what will I do then? Be up there stuck with you and Bible doing nothing?' Don started laughing as well as Bible.

'Shut up Aggie, you love me.' he chuckled. Agnes ignored him.

'Actually I'm glad,' Collier began. 'Now I can use you for what you're in the army for.'

'I can't do shit with my sight if I can't shoot, Don.' Agnes replied. 'You'll have a loose machine gun. You'll be my lookout.' Collier said.

'And what of me during heads up?' Don sighed as he actually didn't know. 'I don't fucking know, how often will that be?'

'Fine, but then I want a sniper as well.' Grady started laughing, but Don, Gordo, Bible and Norman were wise enough not to because a slap on the back of the head of the guy from Agnes followed.

'What are you going to do with a sniper in a moving tank?' Bible asked calmly. 'You can't keep the scope steady.'

'I don't need the scope,' she replied. 'I need the distance it covers.' Collier looked around at the lads and lady. 'I can step out of this platoon whenever I want, Don.' It was the first time Norman had seen _her_ grin. Collier sighed.

'You'll have the sniper.'


	2. The Camp

'Here you go.' Grady handed Norman a cup with a hot substance in it after which he sat down on one of the chests that they had put around a small fire above which they had warmed it. Smelled something like coffee, but it would have to be the strongest one Norman had ever tasted. Everybody seemed to enjoy it though.

The first impression Norman had had of Agnes seemed to be untrue, she was actually quite nice, he had figured. Though she hadn't really talked to him yet. Mostly to Bible, but also a lot to Grady and Gordo. Collier wasn't around. He was at a sergeant consultation and Norman was just a private. So were Bible, Grady and Gordo, but Norman wasn't completely sure about Agnes. She wore a different type of uniform. Norman wore a uniform different from Grady, Bible and Gordo's too, but that was because they all wore uniforms that told people they were a tank-platoon. No coats but jackets and somewhat oversized trousers with big boots. Agnes wore it too, at least the same shirt underneath it as Norman had noticed hers and Gordo's were similar, the rest of them had their jacket closed. Of course her boots were not big –she must've been a foot-size 5- and her trousers were tight and less thick as well. Her jacket was slightly different. Norman didn't know why and also didn't know what exactly was different about it, but it was. As if she had somehow adapted it.

It suddenly hit Norman that it had become silent. Agnes, Gordo, Grady and Bible had been talking and laughing for some time but now they were just quiet. Agnes was the first to open her mouth.

'Where are you from, Norman?' she asked. Did she actually just speak to him?

'Pittsburgh.' His voice didn't quite cooperate with his mind because it didn't quite come out as he had expected. Quite a high-pitched and soft voice. Soft as in not loud enough, not soft like _her_ voice. There was something special about her voice that enchanted him, but not only him. It seemed like Grady, Gordo and Bible had gotten so used to it that it wasn't something they'd think of any time she'd speak, but it was just impossible for them to never be enchanted by her soft, womanly and rough but tender voice.

It was quiet again. Norman hated the silence. He didn't hate silence in general, but this silence, this awkward silence…

'So… Where are you from?' Norman asked. Agnes chuckled, and so did Grady and Bible.

'Do you not hear?' Agnes asked incredulously but grinning. 'Wait, let me repeat that.' She cleared her throat. ' "Do you not hear?" ' Now Norman heard. She was British as fuck.

'I'm from London. Only I've been with these American fuckers for so long my accent has been slightly stashed.' Agnes said and then she took a sip of her coffee and remained silent again.

'So if you're British, why are you in the American army?' Norman asked and everyone immediately looked at him as if he should never have asked that.

'Oh, do you mean to say you have a fucking problem with that?' Gordo asked but Agnes put her hand on his arm that was leaning on his leg.

'Gordo, shut up.' She turned to Norman. 'Is that the question you're asking? Why I'm in the _American_ army? Not, for example, why I'm in the army at all?' she asked. Norman hesitated to speak.

'Well. I didn't think you'd want me to…' 'Okay, you know what, just don't ask. There's only one story behind why I'm with the Americans and neither me, nor Bible, nor Gordo, nor Grady and especially nor Wardaddy feel like telling you this. Ever.' And Agnes' kindness was gone again.

'Ain't that true, Bible?' Agnes said. 'Yep, that's true, Aggie.' Bible said while he continued staring to the ground as he had been for a while. Silence again, until Collier returned. He sat down and then looked upon his crew.

'Agnes,' She looked up from the ground at him. 'Have you eaten anything today?' She slowly shook her head but didn't look like she was planning on eating anything either.

'Make sure you eat something. We've got a new mission. We're leaving in ten.'

'I'm not hungry.' Agnes replied. Collier was just about to stand up and leave again to chat with some other sergeants, but then he gave Agnes a piercing glance and remained on his chair.

'Did I ask you if you were fucking hungry? Huh? Did I?' He had seriously become angry within seconds. 'No you did not.' Agnes said barely making any noise at all.

'No I did fucking not. I can't have you like that again, if you're not going to take your own responsibility then I am.' And he walked away. It was silent again while Agnes looked at her feet. Bible was the first to speak.

'Come on, Aggie.' He got her up by her arm and started leading her towards the rations-tent but as soon as she was on her feet she pulled her arm loose.

'I can walk on my own.' she said after which she started walking towards the tent at high pace. Bible sighed and followed her after.

'What… What did Sergeant Collier mean when he was talking about her responsibility?' Norman dared ask now that Agnes and Bible were both gone. Gordo and Grady looked at one another, questioning whether or not they should tell Norman the story behind it, but then Gordo decided to do so.

'Angel, you know… She had a brother once, and he was in the army, you know, the British army. But he died. She was already with us when she got the news; she got a telegram. She didn't cry or nothing… No, Angel never cries. What she did, she starved herself. And it was kinda scary, I guess; nobody noticed anything. Not only that we never saw her eat but she herself she didn't change a thing until one moment, boom.' Gordo snapped his fingers to strengthen the effect. 'We were just at the camp, luckily, no danger. She just dropped to the ground and she didn't wake up until an hour after. I've never seen nothing like that before. The minutes before that she was acting just fine. So now Don just can't keep his eyes off her, you know, like we all care. Only just he's in charge of her… And sometimes she's just not hungry, nothing wrong with that. She stopped starving herself months ago, but still…' There was only one thing that Norman could not manage to grasp.

'But… Why do you help her? I mean, no offense but I bet that if I would act like that I would be left for dead or be kicked out of the crew.' Norman said.

'You sure would be.' Grady replied. 'But that's not how it works with Angel, you know. She saves us we save her, that's how it works.' he continued. Norman was just about to ask what Grady meant with 'she saves us', but then Agnes and Bible returned and he didn't dare to anymore.

'You okay there, Angel?' Grady asked while she sat down next to him with some bread in her hands that looked so hard it would be impossible to work your teeth through it in her hands. She nodded and then leaned against the side of his shoulders as she pulled up her knees to her chin and ate her food while she stared into the distance. It was silent again, and this silence remained for about five minutes whilst the crew smoked some cigarettes, Bible read a book –probably the holy bible, yes- and Norman just sat there doing nothing. But then, Agnes suddenly spotted something in her line of staring that awakened the crew.

'Is that a fucking SS?' she muttered as she got up. Everybody followed her glance. 'You're right, it fucking is.' Grady said as he got up as well. Immediately, everybody's eyes started to look for Collier. Of course, Agnes was the first to spot him.

'Hey, why are you bringing him through here? Why isn't he sleeping?' Everybody heard him from a distance. 'G2 wants a prisoner to question.' One of the sergeants that was holding the SS replied.

'Oh, I'll question him…' Now Collier walked up to them, and the Fury-crew followed him. Norman noticed that they knew what was about to happen and were very much trying to avoid this.

'Wass ist deine lieblingsfarbe? Bist du ein güte tanzer? Sehest auf dikke weiber?'

'Get back!' One of the other sergeants that was leading the prisoner said and that started a fight. Collier was resolute to punch the SS in the face, but Bible, Gordo and Agnes tried to hold him back, even while other people were cheering for Collier.

The SS was removed from the hurdle and for a moment Collier tried to go after him, but was held back by Agnes.

'Don. It's me, it's me, you got MP's everywhere you gotta stop now, alright?' Agnes said as it looked as if they were hugging seeing the way she was holding him back. Collier finally calmed down a bit, non-verbally thanked Agnes for holding him back and returned to the Fury.

'Mount up boys, we're leaving.' Everybody immediately started packing up, except for Agnes; she immediately confronted Collier.

'I have one question for you, Don. Where's the sniper you promised me?' she asked with some sort of grin on her face. Collier didn't grin though, the look on his face was serious as some young private approached them and held a sniper in front of Agnes' face after which she took it from him without interrupting her eye-contact with Collier.

'Thank you, _sergeant_.' It was clear to see that Agnes was messing with his authority and that he didn't exactly like it but didn't feel like doing anything about it.

'Where are we heading?' Gordo asked. 'North. We're tying up with Baker Company.' Collier said as he climbed onto the tank, and so did everyone else.


	3. Ambush

It wasn't as crowded inside as it would be during heads up. Only Norman and Gordo were inside in the front. Collier had only his upper-body sticking out the main hatch, and Bible was leaning out of the hatch next to the main one. Grady and Agnes both sat on top of the tank, Grady at the gun, Agnes just in front and below Bible, on the non-rotating part, leaning against Fury's 76mm canon. They had been driving for maybe three minutes, and had now reached open fields. Only they weren't as empty as you'd expect them to be. There were German refugees everywhere, walking in the direction of the American army-camp. Normal civilians, but also German soldiers that were holding up white flags as a sign of their surrender.

There were people carrying their last possessions, even a woman in a wedding dress… When the first group of refugees had passed them, Norman saw only one more girl, dragging her bike with her through the mud because if she'd try to cycle, she would sink down into the ground. She had to carry her bike off the road to make way for the tanks. She caught Norman's glance as he rode past her. A glance full of desperation. And she was gone, out of his sight.

'She'll let you fuck her for a chocolate bar.' Gordo suddenly said.

'That's not true.' Norman replied.

'It's not true?' Gordo asked. 'No.' 'Alright then, it's not true.' Gordo might have planned to end the conversation like this, but to Grady there was more to it.

'It's completely fucking true,' he said. 'Or just give her some smokes.' he added to it. 'You ain't got to fuck around and give her a whole pack neither. Fucking four will do it.'

'Norman. Ignore him.' Bible said. 'Don't disappoint Christ now, don't let them lead you astray.'

'Hey Bible, what's the saying?' Agnes asked. 'What?' 'Something like: don't judge people if you yourself should be judged.' Norman wondered what she meant with that.

'Hey, I ain't judging him. Just giving him some advice. By the way that ain't a fucking saying.' There was a brief moment of silence before Collier spoke.

'You see, we can kill 'em, but we can't fuck 'em 'cause it says so in the bible.' Collier added to it.

'Have you got something to say, Wardaddy?' Agnes said as she turned herself around but Collier grinned. 'Stop, alright?' Bible pleaded. 'I'm done trying to convert your heathens. Do you mind if I continue invading Germany?'

'Boyd, do you think Jesus loves Hitler?' Collier asked him. 'Do I think Jesus loves Hitler?' Bible repeated. 'I'd assume so. If Hitler accepted Jesus into his heart and got baptized, he'd be saved. It ain't gonna save him from man's justice.'

'What about your regular-issue Nazi line trooper?' 'No, I'm not gonna do this with you.' Bible said. 'Is he going to Heaven?' Collier continued anyway.

'We've been talking about the same dumb shit for three years. You know I'll stand on it, you're trying to rile me up now.' Bible replied.

'Hey, what about me, huh? You think you could save me?' Grady jokingly asked. 'Sing me a hymn?'

'Yeah, sure.' Bible replied. 'Sing Old Rugged Cross.' Grady said. '_On a hill, far away…_' 'I like the way your mouth moves when you sing.' Grady stated while he tried to touch Bible's moustache. 'Don't.' Bible said.

'I like it.'

'I'll sing it if you don't do that.' Bible tried to push Grady's hand away but that didn't quite work out, as he was too lazy to remove his hands from his jacket's pocket. Grady continued annoying him.

'Let me just touch your moustache.' That made Agnes crack up even though she couldn't see what was going on behind her, but both Bible and Grady ignored her. She had a cute laugh...

'Don't fucking touch me. Stop! Grady.'

'Why does that bother you so much, when I touch your moustache?'

'Stop! Or I'll shoot you. I'll shoot you I swear!'

'Stop. Knock it off, knock off the horseplay.' Collier calmed them down again. It was silent again for a few seconds.

'Boyd, you think Hitler would fuck one of us for a chocolate bar?' Collier asked to lighten the mood and everybody laughed. 'I hope so.' Bible replied. Silence for a while longer, until they laughed again, having thought about the joke in silence.

'Angel would you fuck me for a chocolate bar?' Grady asked. Agnes scoffed. 'Do you think I'm a fucking whore?'

'Then what? Boyd, tell me the secret.' Agnes did not answer that question. 'Grady, can you just shut up now?' Bible muttered. Another few seconds of silence.

'Yes, Grady. I'd fuck you for a chocolate bar.' Her voice was overflowing of sarcasm. 'Problem is you don't have one.'

'I do.' Collier said. 'Go to hell, Wardaddy.' she laughed scornfully. Fury approached a line of trees on the right, and open field on the left.

'All right, Norman, you keep your eyes on those trees. Angel if you see anything moving in the distance over there you shoot it, point blank.' Collier spoke through the intercom.

'Roger.' Agnes replied as she took her sniper in her hands, but she remained sitting relaxed, watching the fields. Norman kept his eyes on the line of trees and saw nothing. Wait, he did see something. What was that? Was that a person? Yes it fucking was. He tried to focus his eyes better so he could see, but he kept his mouth shut. Was that a fucking kid?

'Aggie your hair looks like shit, you should re-braid it.' Bible said with a grin which made Agnes turn around to look at him and probably use some swear words against him, but she stopped mid-way and looked at the tree line. It was a kid, yes. A kid with a fucking bazooka.

'Ambush!' she immediately shouted. 'Right side ambush!' But it was too late. The shot the kid released on the first tank in line created total chaos. A fire rapidly spread itself across the tank until the whole inside was on fire.

'Watch that tree line, we're ripe for an ambush!' Both Collier and Agnes immediately started shooting, while the head-sergeant in the first tank caught fire and screamed. There was a clear difference between Collier's shooting and Agnes' shooting. Collier fired away, while Agnes made quick, unconnected shots, aimed specifically at individual targets. Her bullets caught two of them, Collier shot the kid that had fired the bazooka and had tried to run.

The head-sergeant that was on fire had somehow managed to get out of his tank, and was rolling off, screaming in pain as he was being burned alive. As soon as he reached the ground, the screaming stopped. Agnes had shot him right through the head with her handgun. The chaos was over. Collier got off the tank and walked a few paces into the woods. Three kids…

'Shit, did you see that?' Grady asked while he turned to the tanks behind him. They had missed it all though. Bible looked at the dead head-sergeant in shock and so did Agnes, even though she was the one that had the guts to relieve him from his misery. Collier returned.

'Norman! You cocksucker, why didn't you take the shot?' Collier shouted.

'He was just a kid. I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, sergeant.' Collier climbed the tank while Norman spoke, and when he was done he grabbed him by his collar as Norman cowered.

'You see what a kid can do?' Collier asked and he made Norman look at the still-burning-but-dead head-sergeant.

'Look! That's your fault. That's you fucking fault. Next German you see with a weapon, you rake the dog shit out of him. I don't care if it's a baby with a butter knife in one hand and mama's titty in the other. You chop him up!'

'Yes, sergeant!' Norman received a good slap on his head –which was protected by his helmet though- and Collier turned to Agnes.

'You okay, Angel?' he asked and she nodded. 'You did good.' She knew that, but she did just kill one of her own. Collier got inside his hatch again. He looked back at Peterson and Binkowski in the tanks behind him and shook his head. The first tank was out.

'All tanks, Wardaddy. Looks like I'm it. I'll lead the column let's get us where we're going.'

Gordo steered the Fury past the burning tank, and they rode off.

* * *

**A/N:** I hope you liked this update, I'm trying to write as much as I can but of course, then again there's school. I mostly hope you like the way I've put Agnes in the team, even though you haven't found out that much about her and why she's here just yet. Believe me, it'll come. Please leave a review, see you soon!


	4. Baker Company

It took the Fury about half an hour to arrive at another military camp. Baker Company. A man approached them as they stopped.

'Baker Company?' Collier asked. 'Yes sir.' the man replied.

'I'm not a sir.' 'Me neither. Who's the leader of this column?' 'I am.' Collier said. 'Then I'm talking to the right man, come on, the old man's waiting.' The private started walking while Collier turned to Agnes, who had already climbed off the tank to stretch her legs for a bit.

'Agnes. You come with me.' 'Roger.' she replied. Norman wondered very much why Collier would take Agnes to discuss battle-matters with a superior. But then again, who was he to wonder? He hardly knew her, still didn't know why she was on the tank either.

Collier got off and gestured for Agnes to follow him. She did, but she had her way of following Collier around at camps she wasn't familiar with. Which was about every camp but their own. Most important for was to keep her profile extremely low and keep close to Wardaddy, trying to keep her face unnoticed. She wasn't afraid of anyone finding out she was a woman, but it would create some insurrection and they just didn't have the time for that now.

'Pencil-pushing motherfucker,' Waggoner turned to the two of them as he put down the phone. Only he hadn't just noticed Agnes.

'How you doing?' he asked Collier, but Don didn't reply so he continued to go on with matters that actually mattered. 'Come with me.' Collier and Agnes followed him to some sort of desk that had maps and important papers on it.

'Alright, how many tanks we got?' 'Four.' Collier replied. 'Four? You shitting me?' Waggoner sighed. 'I asked for ten.' He turned to the private that had led Collier and Agnes here.

'Miles! Sergeant Miles!' 'Yes, sir?' 'Get First Platoon ready. You'll be his gunner.'

'I don't need him.' Collier stated and Waggoner turned to him. 'You got five men on your Sherman you'll need an extra gunner.'

'Nah, I got six.' 'Six?' Collier turned his head back to Agnes. 'Show yourself, Angel.' She stepped aside and now Waggoner saw her. He wasn't as shocked as Norman had been, but he was astonished.

'Private Towler, or Angel. Whichever you like.' She reached out her hand and he took it and shook it slowly. 'Captain Waggoner.' Then he turned back to Collier.

'So the stories are true?' 'Depends on which story you heard.' Collier replied. Waggoner turned back to Sergeant Miles.

'Just get the platoon ready.' 'Roger.' And the sergeant was gone. Waggoner turned to the maps again.

'All right, here's the deal. I got a platoon trapped in this beet field by machine guns.' He pointed out a place on the map. 'I sent my tracks in. Jerry took them out. So, anti-tank guns there, there, possibly there. I don't know. I need you to rescue my guys. Take the guns out.' Collier looked at the map for a second.

'I can do that.' 'All right, that clears this road into this town, you push forward. I'll join you there; we'll clear it up. Maybe they'll surrender. Or maybe they'll fight.' Waggoner sighed.

'This high ground, you got any eyes on it?' Collier pointed out a spot on the map. 'I had eyes there, gone. And there, gone. We're flying blind, it's you and me.' Collier sighed through his nose and then looked at Agnes, who seemed intrigued by the map.

'You think you got vision from there?' he asked. He noticed how Agnes' eyes switched from the spots Waggoner had pointed out to the bottom of the map -where the scale of the map was written down- and back.

'Yes.' she replied. 'Are you sure? That's damn nearly impossible.' Waggoner said. 'Captain Waggoner I mean no offense but you've heard the stories so why do you question my answer?' Agnes monotonously asked. That left Waggoner silent.

'Krauts got sights on this road. I don't want to show my flank, you got any objection if I come in here?'

'You can arrive on a magic carpet, for all I care. I know who you are. I know you know what you're doing. You just paste them hard for me. They murdered some good boys out there today.' Waggoner sighed. 'Why don't they just quit?' Collier looked at him.

'Would you?' he asked. That was the end of the conversation, so Collier and Agnes left again and walked back to the Fury. While Collier walked over to the other platoon sergeants to explain to them what they were going to do, Agnes climbed the Fury again.

'What did he need you for?' Norman dared ask and Agnes stopped right in front of him, her legs somewhat spread in front of him to keep her balance.

'What's it to you?' she replied and she climbed further. _Okay,_ Norman thought. _So she just doesn't feel like telling_. But that didn't seem to be true because he heard Bible asking the same question when Agnes was seated again and he did get a normal answer. Something about her vision on the matter, literally.

'Alright, boys. Mount up!' Collier spoke as he left the clique of sergeants. 'We got some boys trapped in the field, so we got ourselves a rescue-mission.' He climbed the tank and they drove off.

Agnes wasn't sitting on top of the tank any longer. Grady was at the gun, Wardaddy hanging out of the main hatch, and Agnes was peeking out of the second hatch together with Bible. The First Platoon of Baker Company accompanied the Fury crew. It was a long march so they were 'hitchhiking' on the tanks so they didn't have to walk. Norman had noticed how Agnes first just wanted to sit on top, where she had been sitting on their way to Baker Company, but Bible insisted that she'd join him. Norman supposed it definitely had something to do with all the stranger-privates on top of the Fury. As if he wanted to protect her. Though Norman was sure that she did not need protection. She was about the toughest woman he'd ever seen.

It had been silent for a while. It seemed as if somehow the tank-crew was reluctant to chat as they normally would have, because of all the privates they were not familiar with, but Collier didn't seem to enjoy the silence at this very moment. He got something out of his pocket.

'Hey Angel. Still want that chocolate-bar?' he asked as he held the freshly wrapped bar in front of her face. Agnes fairly laughed as she enjoyed the joke he was making.

'How much will I get for it?' he asked. 'Well, as I said earlier I would totally fuck Grady for a chocolate-bar. Though you…' She sighed. 'It's gonna cost you at least three more.' Grady and Gordo started laughing uncontrollably. Bible laughed as well but could manage to talk.

'Ha ha ha, motherfucker.' One could hear his laughing through his talking. 'Apply water to the burned area.' he said and Collier just looked at the roof of the tank while he bit his lip and grinned in a form of shame.

'Oh, you are amazing. I'm gonna marry this girl once.' Bible said while he wrapped his arms around Agnes from behind.

'Yeah, you wish.' Agnes said but she did lean her head back onto his shoulder.

They drove until they saw plumes of smoke in the fields and trees on the right. Collier was the first to spot them –as Agnes had been quietly chatting with Bible-, but Don needed his binoculars to spot look at them closely, spotting detail. Angel didn't need them at all. Norman was surprised by the strength her eye-muscles must've had to see focus on those things from this far.

'They're over there.' Agnes stated. 'The guys?' Collier asked. 'Yeah. They're on the ground, what do you want to do?' Collier and Agnes looked at each other and then Collier took the intercom in his hands.

'All tanks, Wardaddy. I assume you've all seen the plumes, Angel confirms that there's troops on the ground over there. Let's go get the boys.'

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**A/N:** Here I am again! I hope you liked the chapter! Please do leave a review as I enjoy reading them very much. But of course also because I would like to know what you think about the chapter and what you think of the relationships between Angel and the Fury crew.


	5. Squirting Tree-lines

'Alright, let's get the boys off.' Wardaddy spoke. He turned to Sergeant Miles sitting at the back of the tank. 'Get them off, give me the last man.' Miles nodded and started yelling for the privates to get to the ground.

'Button up.' Don told the Fury-crew and Agnes switched places with Grady as Gordo and Norman closed their hatch. Bible and Grady went in as well.

'_All right, all tanks move out, hard right. Hard right.'_ Wardaddy spoke over the intercom, as they turned right through the hedgerows and Miles ordered his men to form in on the tracks Fury had left behind.

'_Alright, catch up with the Fury.' 'On my line guys, on my line.' 'We're already drifting.'_

'Angel, you keep an eyeball on that high ground. Right.' Collier said. ' _'Watch that treeline right there, darling.' _Binkowski said over the intercom. 'She copies.' Collier replied, as Agnes did not carry an intercom herself. They reached the second hedgerow, after that they would be in full sight of the Krauts. That was where the troops were on the ground.

'_All right, left stick, left stick what the fuck.' _They were through.

'_Eyes on the ground, eyes on the ground. Keep an eye out.' _Wardaddy warned.

'Over here!' One of the privates on the ground yelled and Agnes gestured for him to collide with the troops behind the Fury. The man was shocked to see a woman, but was quickly forced to look at the private running towards him, retrieving him from the field.

'_Gordo, slow, slow, slow.' _'_We got bodies.'_ _'Eyes on the ground, guys.' _

'Fall in, fall in!' Peterson yelled at the troops on the ground. Most of the troops were now relatively safe behind the tanks.

'_Speed up just a little bit.'_ As Agnes looked around at the field to see if every troop was safe now, she noticed another unit, being approached by a tank. She leaned forward and snatched the intercom out of Colliers hands.

'Love one three, right stick! You got troops on the ground!' _'Fuck! Right stick, god damn it.' _She gave the intercom back to Collier. 'Get your head out of your ass!' Wardaddy yelled at them. 'They weren't fucking paying attention…' Agnes muttered as she got back into her place. All of the troops had fallen in with Baker Company behind the tanks.

'Agnes, you got any vision on the anti-tank yet?' Collier asked after which Agnes narrowed her eyes and stared into the distance. 'Agnes?!' Wardaddy felt that they were about to get fired at.

'Machine-gun, twelve o'clock! On the ground!' There was no need for Collier to repeat it through the intercom. Everyone had heard. And at that exact moment, the Krauts started firing their bullets.

'_Bible, hit that machine gun. Traverse left, 800.' _

'Grady?!' 'Clear!' 'Fire!' 'On the way!' A loud blast from the canon and the ground near the Kraut-machinegun exploded. Dead bodies were flying through the air.

'_Okay, cease fire. Target destroyed.'_ Collier said as Bible laughed because of his success. But then, another loud bang and a cannonball passed the tanks.

'_Fuck! Anti-tank! Bible traverse left! Traverse left!' _But while Bible turned the 76mm gun left, another anti-tank-shot was fired.

'_Just a ricochet. We're okay.'_ Peterson said after everyone heard the loud bang the cannonball had caused by only scraping over Murder Inc.

'_Bullshit. That's a Kraut high-velocity gun. I can hear it whistling.'__** '**__Anti-tank. Left front!' 'Got it!'_ Collier yelled. 'Bible, down fifteen!' 'Clear!' Grady shouted. 'Fire!' 'On the way!' After Bible had fired the shot, Agnes started squirting the tree line with the machine-gun, just like the others.

'Clear!' Grady shouted again. 'On the way!' A massive explosion among the trees.

'_Okay, cease fire. Target destroyed.'_ But that didn't seem true once again. Another anti-tank cannonball only nearly missed Fury.

'_There's another gun! Who's got eyes on it?!' _Wardaddy spoke. 'Angel?!' She stopped shooting the treeline and narrowed her eyes again.

'What?' She seemed confused. As if her eyes failed her, because she didn't find it at first. But then another anti-tank shot was released and she immediately pointed out directions. 'Antitank, H.E.! Traverse right!' 'Got it!' Wardaddy shouted after which he started repeating Agnes' words over the intercom.

'On! Fire!' 'On the way!' Both Fury and Old Phyllis fired shots. It took them a few rounds to take them out though.

'_All tanks, start squirting that treeline, let's go; light them up.' _Wardaddy commanded and a chaos of tank-fire started shooting the Krauts that were still left at that treeline, and in the trenches in front of it. Norman did nothing.

'Hey! Start shooting!' Gordo told him. 'But what do I shoot at?' Norman asked in panic.

'The Nazi's dumb fuck!' He looked through his periscope again and started firing random rounds, until he went out of bullets. Only through his periscope, he noticed how one German inside a trench got out a goddamn bazooka.

'Panzerfaust!' He heard Agnes yelling, but he was too busy taking out a new magazine.

'Hey! Get him!' Gordo shouted. 'I'm loading the gun.' 'Hit him!'

'Got him.' Bible's voice was calm as fuck, and Norman did not comprehend why, but luckily, Boyd took the Kraut out within seconds.

'Do your job! Do what you're here for!' Gordo said. 'I was loading the gun!'

'_Machine gun, twelve o'clock. Gordo, run those bastards over.' _Gordo did not have the time say something back to Norman, but pressed the gas-pedal some more, which caused some Krauts to be run over.

'_All tanks, hold here!' _Wardaddy put down the intercom now and starting firing the 50 well. This was the final push. Agnes turned back to Sergeant Miles.

'Get your boys in the fight!' 'Fall out! Marching fire!' The American ground-soldiers immediately shot down the fleeing Krauts. Some of them fought back and shot some Baker Company-people down, but it was very clear to see that the Krauts had already lost the fight.

'Hey, squirt those Krauts on the left.' Gordo suddenly told Norman. He looked left.

'All I see are dead bodies.' 'How do you know they're dead? Are you a doctor? Hit them!'

'But they're dead. Why would I shoot them if they're already dead?'

'So they don't stand up and shoot us in the ass!' At this point, Gordo started to shake him up a bit.

'Damn it! Fuck!' He did not fucking sign up for this. 'Get them!' 'Fuck! I can't fucking be here any-fucking-more!' He started thrusting his fist against the tank-wall.

'Turn your goddamn intercom off if you're gonna bawl like that!' Collier said as he peeked inside for a short moment. 'I got it, Top!' It was Agnes' voice, and Norman heard her crawling through the tank behind him as he almost started crying. He couldn't fucking be here. He wasn't supposed to fucking be here. He suddenly felt her hands on his shoulders.

'I fucking give up. I can't be here anymore.'

'Ssh, you're okay. Relax.' Her voice was actually very relaxing, but he did notice how she had to do her utmost best to achieve that effect, because adrenaline was rushing through her body like crazy.

'This ain't pretty, you know. This is what we do.' Gordo said. After Norman calmed down a bit more, Agnes gave him a pat on the shoulders and went up again without saying a word.

'Boys, fight on foot.' 'You take it.' Bible muttered as he left the gun followed by Agnes. Norman was left there while Gordo got out through his own hatch.

'I'm okay… I'm okay.'

Everybody had gone out. The fight was over. Norman opened his hatch but stayed in his place as he looked outside at the dead Krauts and some dead or dying Americans. Nobody really paid attention to the comrades. Nobody except for Bible and Angel. Bible was praying with one of the suffocating soldiers, and Agnes… That would be hard to explain. Norman had absolutely no idea what she was doing, but after she left one soldier, she moved on to the other, that was lying on the ground close to the Fury. She kneeled down next to him and took his hand in hers.

'Hey. You're okay, old chap. You're going to be okay. What's your name?' she asked.

'Johnny.' the private replied after which he coughed. 'All right, are you married Johnny?' He slowly nodded.

'Good, we're going to be taking care of your wife, pal. Do you have children?' He nodded again. 'Edward and Rosie.' Johnny whispered, he slightly smiled as he spoke their names.

'How old are they?' 'Seven and three years old.' he replied. 'It's going to be okay. We're going to take care of them as well. Everything is going to be okay. Do you believe in Jesus?' Bible kneeled down next to the two of them. Johnny nodded.

'All right, I'm gonna pray with you now, son.' Bible said as Agnes got up again, but Bible followed her movement with his eyes.

'Are you okay?' he whispered and gestured at the same time and Agnes nodded after which she looked around for a bit. 'I think this is the last one.'

'Why are you staring?' Norman suddenly heard Gordo's voice near to him so he looked away from Agnes and to Gordo, who had a bottle of German booze in his hands that he had snatched of one of the dead Krauts, but then looked at her again.

'What are they doing?' he asked. 'They're doing what they got their names for. Well, that's only partly for Angel. Bible's just praying with the men that are going to die. He literally just recites the Bible.'

'And Angel?' Norman didn't want to sound desperate to get to know more about her, but in fact, he couldn't say he wasn't. 'What does her name have to do with it?' Gordo sighed through his nose as he looked at the girl.

'What she does is; she asks them if they have a wife. If they do, she tells them we're going to take care of her. If they don't she asks them if they have a sweetheart at home, if they do she tells them she's going to live on a happy life and always remember him. If they don't, she asks them if they have ever been kissed before. If they have, she tells them to cherish that moment and think back to the girl they kissed. If not…' Gordo stopped for a moment and looked at Norman, but Norman was too busy watching Angel. 'Well, she gives them a kiss.' Now Norman did look at Gordo.

'What? Why?' 'It's kind of sweet, though, isn't it? She thinks that every man should at least once be kissed by a girl in their life. And as they will die within minutes, she is the only one there.' Norman looked back at Agnes again.

'Why is Bible the one to pray with the men and not her?' he asked. 'Doesn't she believe in God?' Gordo scoffed.

'She believes in Him, she just doesn't like Him very much.' That was a point Norman could not grasp. 'Why?'

'She told me once that she lies to some of those men. Some of those men that are about to die tell her that they will go to hell for all of the people they killed in battle. If just telling them they won't doesn't work, she tells them that there is only one hell, which is the one we live in now and that they will exit it and go to heaven. She tells them that, but she doesn't believe it. She believes in God, because who or what else would be able to make men as evil as someone like Hitler, you know, being responsible for millions of deaths. But she also believes that life is his most beautiful gift and despises Him for taking this gift from innocents by the millions.' Hearing that, it kind of made sense to Norman. He still couldn't quite get why one could not love her God though, but he decided not to go further on that specific matter…

'So… so what is she? Episcopalian? Baptist?' Gordo shook is head.

'I don't think she belongs to any specific denomination. Catholic would probably come closest to her beliefs if any… She doesn't really talk about it openly that often because she doesn't like arguing with Bible.'

'What? Do they get like in fights and stuff?' Norman asked.

'Oh, no. No, Bible and Angel wouldn't ever fight that's impossible. Their opinions just differentiate…' He laughed. 'You're one crazy fucker,' He started walking off while he mumbled something like: 'Bible and Angel fighting, would you believe it?'

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**A/N: **A bit of a longer chapter, as I started writing, then skipped at bit and continued writing, but then still had to fill in the bit I skipped haha. As always, I am very curious to hear what you think of the chapter so please do leave a review! Thanks and until next time ;)


	6. Cruelty

'Who did you kill?' 'That's a US army coat, who did you kill for it?' 'Where did you get that, boy?' Norman and Gordo both noticed how Agnes' attention was drawn by something near the trees. She had gone to sit with Grady and Bible, next to the Fury, around a small pit of fire that was cooking some water for coffee. Gordo and Norman didn't even notice it their selves at first, because they were too intrigued by Agnes' movements. There was another German soldier alive, wearing a US army coat.

'Vergib mir. Lass mich gehen.' 'Who did you kill? What did you do?' One of the privates raised his gun at him. 'Nicht schießen. Bitte. Ich bin unbewaffnet.' They started pushing him around a bit, but one more intelligent guy turned to Collier.

'Sergeant?!' he called. 'Hold on!' Wardaddy replied. 'Back it up, boys.' Collier got off the tank. 'Norman, get to the ground.' Norman looked at Gordo for a second, who gave no notice of knowing what Collier wanted of him, so he got out and to the ground.

'Come here, Norman. Come on, son.' Collier said. He laid his hand on Norman's shoulder as he led him towards the group of men involving a Kraut. He turned to Sergeant Miles.

'Sergeant, call you dogs off.' 'Come on guys, back up.' The Kraut took out some pieces of paper to show them to Norman and Wardaddy.

'Ich habe einze Familie zu Hause. Bitte.' He showed him a picture. 'Das ist meine Frau.' Another picture. 'Das sind meine Kinder.' Wardaddy smacked the pictures to the ground.

'Shut the fuck up.' he said, and then he grabbed him and brought him to his knees. That alarmed Agnes, Bible and Grady, who stood up and slowly started walking closer, but not crossing a certain line of apathy.

'Auf den Knien.' Wardaddy said, after which he walked back to Norman, swiping the Kraut's pictures lying on the ground away.

'You are no goddamn good to me unless you can kill Krauts.' he said. 'Don.' Agnes spoke, who already knew what Collier was planning to make Norman do, but she stayed put. Wardaddy ignored her.

'Put a big fat hole in his back.' Collier reached out his handgun to Norman, but Norman slowly shook is head.

'Put a big fat hole,' Collier pushed the gun against Norman's chest. 'In his fucking back.' He was clearly starting to lose his temper. 'No.' It took Norman a whole lot of courage to say that, actually.

'Why the hell not?' 'Don, please...' Agnes tried again. 'Shut up!' Wardaddy yelled at her and he turned back to Norman again. 'I asked why the hell not?'

'It's not right.' he whispered. That made Collier lose his temper and he smacked Norman in the face.

' "Not right." We're not here for right and wrong.' Another slap. 'We're here to kill them.' He grabbed Norman by his collar.

'Why are you here? You're here to kill him.' Norman tried to pull himself loose but Collier grabbed him again soon enough.

'You know why he's here? He's here to kill you.' He pushed Norman around a bit. 'He's here to kill you, Norman. He's here to rip your throat out with a bullet.' At this point the Kraut started to beg for mercy in a language probably only Collier understood.

'Go to hell.' Norman said, but that wasn't a smart decision because he received another slap and then Collier got hold off his head and pushed it down to his chest.

'I'm trying to teach you something.' Collier calmly spoke after he'd let him go again. 'Are you here to get me killed?' 'No.' Norman whispered. 'I need you to perform. Just get it over with.'

'I can't do it.' Norman cried. 'Yes, you can. I know you can.' Collier replied. 'He kills you, or you kill him. Simple math.' He slapped his face again. 'You or him? Pick.' Collier pointed at Norman's chest with the gun.

'Don he's right, you can't do this. He's surrendered.' Agnes tried but Collier ignored her.

'You or him? Pick!' he repeated, but then he noticed how Agnes walked towards him.

'Don, can't you see he's terrified?' He stopped her before she could somewhat pull him away from Norman by turning around, and reaching out his hand. His hand hit her chest soon enough and he looked her in the eyes for a second. That was enough for her to know that enough was enough. She had crossed a line, and she now realized and understood that. A final push from Wardaddy made her gently fall to the ground but she didn't care. She understood.

'Come on, Norman, pick. You or him?' Collier continued. 'Just kill me.' Norman said. 'Kill me. Kill me! Please! Kill me! I can't do it!' Now he had crossed a line as well.

Collier grabbed him by the little hair he had at got him on his knees after which he kneeled down behind him. Norman struggled to get loose in vain; Wardaddy was much stronger than him.

'Fucking stop!' Norman yelled but it was no use. 'Please stop.' The worst part was that everyone was watching them. The entire Baker Company, all the other tankers, even Agnes who was still just chilling on the ground quite close to them.

'Oh, no, no.' Collier spoke. 'This is the easy part.' 'What the hell?' Norman squeaked. 'All right.' Collier fully cocked his gun. 'Please don't make me do this. Don't make me do this.' Norman whispered.

'Nein! Bitte!' The German tried but everybody ignored him. Collier closed Norman's hand around the gun and pushed his finger through the trigger-hole.

'It's all right. One… Two…' Norman was still struggling to escape.

'Do it, Norman.' Collier repeated that sentence a couple of times, but then he'd had enough. He pulled the trigger himself and Norman screamed. Collier stood up immediately, kicked Norman while he was lying on the ground and then walked away.

'Do your job.'

Norman covered his face as he recovered from mental and physical pain, but he noticed that Agnes was looking at him. He carefully looked at her, not exposing his face too much. She had been sitting too close to the whole thing and had some Kraut blood-spatters on her face, he noticed, but she either didn't care or hadn't noticed. She only looked at him. She didn't speak, or bother to get up to help him up. She just sat there, until Bible came to retrieve them. He surprisingly first walked to Norman.

'Come on, Norman.' He grabbed his arm and pulled him up. 'Let's go.' He gave him a soft nudge towards Grady and Gordo sitting around a small fire, and then turned to Agnes. He reached out his hand towards her while his eyes made sure that Norman arrived at his comrades safely. She grabbed his hand and he helped her up, it was only then that he looked upon her face.

'Damn, sweetie, you got blood all over your face.' he said after which he tried to rub the small amount of spatters off with his thumb, but she slightly turned her face away.

'It's okay.' She went to sit with Grady, Gordo and Norman while Bible followed her.

'Is this supposed to make a man out of me?' Norman asked. 'Sit down.' Bible said. 'Is this supposed to make a man out of me? 'Cause my conscience… it's clean. My conscience is clean.' He sat down. 'I'm keeping it that way.' There wasn't any form of chair left so Agnes sat down on the ground next to Gordo.

'You're covered in Kraut blood, girl.' Gordo said. 'I know, just leave it. I'll wash it off later.' she replied.

'Look right here, hot coffee.' Bible said as he handed Norman a cup, he didn't sit down, he just remained standing.

'It's okay Norman; we've all had our disciplinary retribution from Don at least one time. He's trying to keep us alive.' Agnes said. Grady started chuckling.

'Yeah we have. Remember that one time, Angel?' She buried her head in her hands as she grinned and Gordo and Bible started chuckling as well.

'Oh you were being a proper naughty one, he slapped good didn't he?' Agnes started laughing out loud. 'Yes he did, Grady. And so he should have.' Everyone laughed but Norman couldn't see the fun of it. 'What did you do?'

'Ha ha, nothing more than calling him a dickhead for killing off Krauts that had surrendered themselves.' She looked to the ground. 'But I still think you're right, Norman. He should have lived.'

'Only one thing Aggie hates, ain't it? Cruelty. Cruelty and injustice.' Bible said. 'Yep.' Agnes muttered.

'And the way you Americans say 'duty'.' That lightened the mood and everyone laughed.

'Don might be crazier than a shithouse rat but… he's solid.' Gordo said and he nodded as if confirming what he just said. 'We've been together since Africa, except for Angel then, but… I won't fight with anybody else.'

'Me neither.' Bible said. 'There ain't no crew stayed together like we have, Norman. And that's because of him.'

'First time we got shot at, down in North Africa…' Grady chuckled for a bit. 'Don, he done shit his drawers full.' Agnes was the first to start laughing, but the rest followed her, except for Norman of course. 'He stunk the tank up real loud.' Grady added to it, which caused more laughter. 'It's true.' Agnes and Gordo were the first to get on their feet and stop laughing. Collier had showed up behind Grady. Everyone followed their lead.

'We move out in fifteen. Norman, I haven't seen you eat anything all day, make sure you get something to eat.' He walked off again and Grady turned to Norman.

'You best go eat something. Make sure he sees it too.' He started packing up already.

'See Norman, he does take care of us.' Agnes said with a slight smile, and she followed everybody starting to pack up. Up to the next town to take.

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**A/N:** Hey there! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! As always please leave a review, I would like to receive as many from you as you can haha. No seriously, I live of those comments :')


	7. Mayor's Kids

They neared a small village as Norman relaxed as much as he could. Still wasn't much though. Not far as much as Agnes.

Norman was in his place. Gordo was in his place. Collier was in his place. Grady was sitting on top of the tank, Bible was hanging out the side-hatch. And Agnes… Agnes was sleeping. She had popped inside and was leaning against Collier legs as he was just standing and hanging out the main hatch. She was gone, deep sleep, and Norman could just not understand how she did that. She had been sleeping for at least half an hour now.

'Angel, sweetheart wake up we're nearing the town.' Grady suddenly spoke, but she didn't hear him. She was very, very slightly snoring, Norman noticed. It sounded kind of cute.

'Agnes.' Collier suddenly spread his legs, which made Agnes' head drop and she tumbled down to the absolute bottom of the tank.

'Fucking hell.' she muttered as she got up. 'Get your ass up here, I need your eyes.' It sounded kind of weird to Norman, but in a way it made sense…

Agnes got hold of Bible's ankles and almost pulled him down as she got herself up, which caused Bible to start laughing while he reached out his hand to help her up, as Gordo drove Fury into the small town. There were corpses hanging from windows. Hanged.

'They got signs around their necks,' Bible said. 'What do them signs say?' Collier narrowed his eyes.

'"I'm a coward and refused to fight for the German people."'

'The SS do that. Let them rip themselves to pieces. Fuck them.' Gordo pleaded.

'Grady, Bible, get yourselves down.' As they climbed inside again, Wardaddy started talking some commands through his intercom, stating something about them taking the town from the South, and that Binkowski was to follow Fury and stay off its ass.

It was still a very inhabited town. Even though Agnes was sure that there were Krauts hiding in resident's houses, there were so many normal civilians, scared of the oncoming tanks and soldiers.

'Clear the alley!' Collier shouted at Sergeant Miles. Something or someone that wasn't in any American's vision yet had dropped some smoke bombs.

'Gordo, just punch through that wall of smoke. Angel, you keep your eyes open.'

'Never closed them before, Top.' Collier grinned because of her answer, but remained completely focussed. While Baker Company walked behind, beside and in front of the Fury, they neared a small square. Both Collier and Agnes were pretty sure that this would be a perfect hiding spot for some Krauts that hadn't surrendered yet.

'Gordo halt here.' There was an old man still calmly walking through the alley that was flooded with Allies.

'Opa.' Collier spoke and the man turned around and took off his hat. 'Wo sind die Deutsche Soldaten?' The man slowly raised his walking-stick towards the building right in front of them, about 30 yards ahead, and then fell down to the ground after everyone heard a gun-shot.

'Sniper!' Agnes immediately shouted while she got down a little, not exposing herself too much to avoid a potential death by head-shot. Both Agnes and Collier had noticed where the shot had come from, and immediately started firing in that direction, though Collier interrupted his shooting to talk through a command to Bible.

'Bible, follow that girl's burst. Fire when ready.' 'Roger.' He started traversing the 76mm gun upward, and then fired without saying a word. The wall exploded, but there were still living and fighting Krauts inside.

Now Baker Company started firing rounds as well, taking out the Krauts within mere seconds.

'Alright, move up, move up.' Collier spoke through the intercom. Gordo drove forward again, and Baker Company started walking. Then suddenly, there were some loud blasts of gunshot and a few Baker Company soldiers fell down left from the Fury. There were some Krauts hiding in something that looked like a basement with an air-window.

'Shit. Binkowski get those cocksuckers.' Collier said through the intercom, after which he and Agnes buttoned up. 'I'm gonna smack them around for you a bit.'

Everybody had expected Binkowski to just use his .50 to take them out, but he didn't. The cannonball from his 76mm gun completely shattered the basement.

'God damn…' Wardaddy muttered as he grinned because of the rubble falling on top of the closed hatch. They both got out again and Collier looked back at Binkowski, who shrugged.

'All right, Gordo, forward.' _'Keep your eyes up, everywhere we go.'_ Binkowski said.

'Gordo, hard right, into that square. Binkowski, cover our tail.' _'Gotcha.'_ There were more people hanging from the windows…

Almost immediately, they were being fired at by anti-tank hiding in a clothing shop. They had aimed for Agnes but she'd seen them before anyone else and had ducked down in time. The anti-tank cannonball narrowly missed the Fury.

'Anti-tank, traverse left!' Bible started traversing while Agnes still kept her head down.

'Throw some Willy Pete in that ground floor.' Grady reloaded. 'Clear, Boyd!' 'Fire when ready.' Boom. The ground floor exploded and smoke followed. Then the Krauts started screaming. They were on fire, walking out of the store. It only took Norman a few seconds to start shooting at them. They were burning. They didn't need to burn.

'Good shooting kid, keep stacking them up.' Collier approved of his actions, Gordo didn't: 'You should've let them burn.' Baker Company started searching some houses, but from one of them came a man by himself, holding a walking stick with a white shirt tied to it. He looked quite fancy. Probably the mayor of the little town. He wanted to surrender.

'Gordo, halt here.'

'Bitte. Nicht schießen.' Wardaddy gestured for the man the approach. 'Kom hier.'

'Die Soldaten die noch da sind möchten sich ergeben.' the mayor shouted while he walked towards Collier. 'Wir ergeben ons, ja. Der Krieg ist vorbei. Gott sei dank.' Norman didn't understand anything he was saying, but he guessed it wasn't important. He was willing to surrender.

'Sag ihnen sie sollen raus kommen. Ohne Waffen, und mit erhobenen Händen.' Collier replied and then he grabbed the intercom. 'Kom raus!' The mayor started calling for the soldiers to come out.

'Binkowski, load an H.E. and get ready to put it in that bank if these people want to test us.' Collier spoke through the intercom. _'It's my pleasure.'_ The mayor kept implying that the soldiers would come out without weapons, and then they exited the building.

'Fuck, it's a bunch of kids!' Hearing that, Agnes immediately got out of the tank and to the ground, while she found eye contact with Collier and he nodded. The two of them had made it some sort of a standard procedure, it seemed. Whenever there were children actively involved, she would get out and show herself if not too dangerous. A woman was a nurturing figure, and seeing these kids were already super frightened, it gave them some reassurance, somehow, that nothing was going to happen to them.

'Here they come, keep an eye out.' There were many kids, at least thirty of them, and Miles started to sort it all out.

'Separate them! Right over there!' Baker Company started roughly pushing the kids in the same direction.

'Miles go fucking easy on them, it's a bunch of kids.' Agnes shouted and her voice somehow had so much authority in it that he listened, even though she was a private and he was a sergeant. Apart from the kids, there were also some adult, regular soldiers in there, but they weren't sent in the same direction. They were kept against the wall of the building.

'Why you looking so sour Kraut? What you got?' And apart from the soldiers, there was also one higher officer with a sling around his arm.

'Burgermeister,' Collier said as he caught the mayor's attention. 'Hat der da die Kindern gehängt?' The mayor nodded slowly. 'Ja.'

'Hey, shoot that guy.' He was talking to Angel, but another private spoke first. 'This guy?' He laid his hand on the SS's shoulder.

'Yeah, him. The SS cocksucker with the busted wing. Put him to sleep, darling.' He said to Agnes and she got out her handgun.

'Come on Angel, this one's yours.' The private said as he lined him up for her. 'Auf Wiedersehen, asshole.' He looked Agnes straight in the face as she put her gun against his forehead.

'Enjoy rotting in hell, you heartless bastard.' Blood splashed all over her face as she shot him, and he fell down without her wasting another bullet.


	8. The Stupid, The Proud

_'__God is dead. We get to sleep tonight. Walk with me, into the truth, out of your lies. Man equals woman. I'm just the messenger, don't shoot me down. The armies of faithful. The killers of reason. The grief for the crown.' _And then she stopped strumming chords and started plucking loose strings.

Agnes had found a guitar in one of the abandoned houses, and was sitting next to the Fury and Bible, slumped in a chair, playing the guitar and softly singing a song. Boyd was sitting on another chair next to her reading the Holy Bible, and Norman wondered how many times he'd read it already. Probably at least thrice.

Captain Waggoner had granted the men a night's rest in the town, but as it wasn't night yet, they were all –or most of them- outside. Some towns-women had dared to show themselves and were clearly planning on hooking up with the Americans. Or at least, the Americans were planning on hooking up with them. Gordo had already found a girl, and was walking towards the Fury with his arm around her waist, as Grady received them.

'I'm gonna take care of you, okay?' The woman agreed. 'You wanna see the tank?' Grady nodded to her: 'How do you do?' 'Hey, I'm gonna marry this girl.' Gordo spoke, one could hear from his voice that he had already been drinking quite a lot.

'Come on up, this gonna be for two. It's gonna be him, then me. All right, you go on up there.' Grady said as he helped the woman up onto the tank. Bible didn't look at them even though they almost pushed him off his chair, and Agnes ignored them too. Well, not completely. She didn't look at them, but she stopped playing the guitar and Norman could see her fingers almost clawing into the neck of the guitar she was holding. She was annoyed by Gordo and Grady, but mostly Grady, Norman figured.

Norman looked down to his book again as Gordo and the woman got inside the tank, up until he heard Collier's voice behind him.

'Wasn't nothing right?' Norman turned himself around. 'Come again, sergeant?'

'Rubbing out those heinies. You splashed them real good. Wasn't nothing right?'

'No, it wasn't nothing,' Norman replied. 'In fact, I kinda liked it.' They looked at each other in silence for a moment.

'Do what I tell you. You do that, you'll make it through this thing.' After saying that, Collier lit the cigarette that he had held between his lips all along. While he took his first whiff, he looked around at the place a little bit, and then something inside one of the houses caught his attention.

'Come on.' he said to Norman and he started walking towards the building that had alarmed his eyes. Norman followed. He casted a final eye on the Fury. Agnes had stopped playing the guitar entirely and followed Colliers every move, Grady was leaning against the tank, eating an apple, and Bible only looked up from his book as Norman passed them, but then looked down at it again.

Norman followed Collier up the staircase, until there were no more stairs left for them to climb, and Wardaddy banged on one of the doors. Nobody answered it –even though Don didn't give him or her much time to do so-, so he decided the kick it in. A woman immediately raised her hands in the air.

'Wer ist in?' 'Nur ich.' the woman replied. Collier silently looked at her for a second. 'Bullshit.' he then stated and with his hand against her chest, he pushed her towards a double door, which he opened by slamming her against it. The room seemed empty.

'Watch her.' Collier said. He entered the room as Norman slightly raised his machine gun at the woman. Don first checked the closet, nothing, but then he seemed to pause for a moment. As if he'd heard something. Then he suddenly got down to his knee and looked under the bed.

'Komm raus!' he shouted. The woman that Norman was supposed to watch suddenly ran at Wardaddy, trying to pull him back or something, but Norman stopped her in time.

'Hey, calm down. Stand fucking there.' he told her while Wardaddy got a young, blonde girl from under the bed.

'Sie sagte dass niemand hier war.' Collier said to the woman. 'Es tut mir leid. Sie hatten Angst dass…' Collier didn't say anything but pushed the woman down into a chair which shut her up. The girl sat down on the couch next to her and the woman grabbed her hand. Collier seemed to relax himself a bit and put his bag on the kitchen table, while Norman still subtly pointed his gun at the two females.

'Close the door and lock it.' 'What?' 'Lock the fucking door.' Norman walked towards the door that was the entrance to the apartment, and was just about to shut it, but then Agnes suddenly slipped inside.

'What are you doing here?' he softly asked. 'Nothing, I could ask you the same.' Norman hesitated. Should he try and send her away? Collier had obviously ordered him to lock the door so no one else could come in, but now Agnes had entered. Though after thinking about it for a few seconds, he figured that Wardaddy had particularly meant that no other _men_ could come in. He was right, because when Collier noticed Agnes' presence he didn't say anything but just followed her movements as she walked in front of him to the other side of the room where she went to stand in the corner, studying the apartment's interior.

Collier turned to the woman. 'Bringen Sie mir heißes Wasser.' The woman didn't nod or anything, she just stood up with fear in her eyes and walked into the kitchen.

'Put down the gun. You're making me nervous. And sit down.' He was talking to Norman, as he was the only one still having his gun raised, so Norman sat down into the chair the woman had just rose from. Agnes remained completely silent. Collier now turned to the girl, still seated on the couch next to Norman, and gestured for her to come closer. She stood up and approached, but not quite close enough so Wardaddy grabbed her wrist and pulled her so the would stand exactly in front of him.

'Wie heißt du, junges Mädchen?' he asked her. 'Emma.' she answered with unsteady voice. He didn't say anything in response, but ordered her to hold up her hand. He started taking something out of his army-bag and then handed her a box. A box full of eggs, and Norman surely wondered how those eggs had managed not to shatter during a war like this. Emma understood and wanted to walk to eggs into the kitchen, but before she could, Wardaddy handed her two packs of cigarettes as well. She wasn't grateful, and didn't act like it either. Why would she act grateful for a pack of cigarettes in exchange for them invading their home?

The woman came back from the kitchen with a large bowl filled with hot water, put it on the table in front of Collier, and then walked back to the kitchen again.

'Agnes.' Agnes had been peacefully looking around –even though her facial expression wasn't peaceful at all, rather annoyed or something- and now looked upon Collier's face.

'Wash your face.' he said. 'Roger.' she replied as if it was some sort of order, but she said it quite sarcastically. As if she wanted to let him know that giving her an order like that was not in his place. She still obeyed though, and wetted her hands after which she rubbed her face with them. The blood came off quick and easy, and she sat down on a chair like Wardaddy after she was cleaned up.

Norman was bored. They would have to wait until the eggs were baked, or boiled, or whatever, and there was nothing to do in the meantime. Although, that wasn't completely true. Norman noticed the piano standing on the other side of the table, just waiting to be played, so he stood up and looked through the sheet music laying on top of the instrument. He picked out a random song and started playing, knowing he was being watched by Agnes and partly by Collier, even though the sergeant had started taking off the clothes around his torso, getting ready for a cleanse and a shave.

It only took him seconds to attract more people, Emma had heard him from the kitchen and seemed intrigued by his skills, but more by the actual song he was playing. Norman didn't know it, he just followed the sheet, but Emma did and she carefully started singing along. He didn't understand the words she uttered, but it sounded very beautiful. The pitch was high but she perfectly managed to sing it. But then she suddenly stopped. She saw something. The mirror. She could see Collier's back, while he stood in front of the table stirring his shaving cream; it was full of scars.

Norman stopped playing and looked, but then noticed that could come over as quite impolite so he slightly turned his face away. Agnes had noticed that the two had been looking at Collier's back, but she wasn't amazed. As if she'd seen it before…

'She's a good clean girl. If you don't take her into that bedroom I will.' Collier said, perhaps to draw the attention to something else. His eyes switched from Norman, to Emma, to Agnes, and directly back to Norman, as if his eyes had accidentally fallen onto Agnes. Emma had understood, and that's not what anybody had expected, but she pulled Norman from his chair and led him into the bedroom.

The woman, who'd just brewed some tea, immediately wanted to walk in and give them some, but Collier stopped her.

'Nein. Sie sind jung, und sie leben.' he said, and the woman looked at him for a second after which she gave him his tea.

'Bitte.' and she walked back into the kitchen again. Wardaddy took his time to wash and shave his face, but Agnes, who watched him all along didn't seem to be quite satisfied with that.

'Hair needs maintenance as well.' she muttered. 'Yeah, whatever.' At last, she moved. 'Here, let me.' She took the razor out of his hands and pushed him down onto the chair he'd been sitting on earlier.

'Okay…' she muttered to herself while she clumsily grabbed the shaving cream brush and smeared some on the left side of his head.

'How does this even work?' she muttered even softer, but he still heard. 'You don't know how to do this, do you?'

'Shut up.' she said and she put the blade against his skin and started pulling back.

'It's a pretty tight shave,' he said, and she smiled exultantly. 'For a woman.' he then added to it. Her movement didn't change, but her voice did. 'I have a sharp blade in my hand and I _will_ use it to assassinate you, Wardaddy.'

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**A/N:** Hey there! Apologies, it did take me a while to write this chapter, but I just haven't been finding the time for it, oh well, here it is! I hope you liked it, please do leave a review! I read every single one of them and there's nothing I enjoy more (almost ;) )! Thanks!


	9. Peacekeeper

Agnes closed her eyes by the sound of them entering the staircase and walking the stairs loudly and without care.

'Noooormaaan!' Grady shouted. Norman and Emma were already at the table again, with some tea that Emma had fetched them. She was nice, Norman really liked her and how she smiled and everything about that girl actually. Agnes sat on the other side of the table in front of them, and Collier was at the head of the table while the other guys banged the door and then broke open the look.

'_Pinche_, Norman.' Gordo cried with a Spanish accent. Bible was the first to enter, but unlike Grady and Gordo he was not drunk, the look on his face was rather tired and fed up with everything. He went to stand behind Agnes, leaning on a small escritoire, while Grady and Gordo stood still in the door opening.

'Norman, time for you to act the man. We fixed you up real good, now look, there's a special gal. She's down there, she's waiting on you. All you gotta do is come on down, she's wide open, just jump on in.' Grady said.

'Yeah, she looks a little bit like a whore, but…' Gordo, who was wearing a top-hat made sure that she was fine by hand gestures.

Then there was silence. While Grady started to realize it. 'I think maybe we're too late, Gor. Norman, what did you do?' Grady approached.

'Norman, you sneaky snail, what did you do?' He looked at Emma and back to Norman.

'Wait a second, did you… _did you_?' Grady kneeled down between their seats. 'Did you take this pretty young thing for a roll?' 'Yeah, you're real pretty.' Gordo added to it.

Emma was terrified to death, of course she was. 'What's with your lip?' Grady asked. 'Why it quiver?' He took her bottom lip between thumb and index finger and shook it. 'Don't worry about me, I'm a friend. He fuck you, you fuck me, that's how it works.'

'You gotta pass the plate man, come on, make a donation to the cause.' Only at this moment Norman dared to say anything to Grady. 'Alright, don't touch her.'

'Don't touch her?' Grady repeated, while he turned his head to Norman. 'Don't ever fucking tell me what to do. You think you get some pussy and now you can fucking act like a man?'

'Anyone touches the girl, they get their teeth kicked in.' Wardaddy stated clear but simply. That surprised Grady. 'That's how it gonna be?' He stood up and kicked Emma's chair in the process.

'Well, alright then,' he said while he went to stand behind Norman and threw his cigarette in Emma's coffee. 'I guess it's Norman Day, huh?' Wardaddy nodded. 'Shit, Top.'

'It's your day, Norman.' Grady took a sip of a bottle of liquor and then put it on the table in front of Norman. 'You should drink that. You a man, right? Drink it.' Hesitantly, Norman took a small sip, and then almost vomited by the taste of it. But as soon as he had the liquid in his mouth, Grady shut it with his hand.

'There it is, drink it, there it is. You like that.' Norman pushed Grady off of him. 'Don't fucking touch me. Oh god. What the fuck is that, gasoline?'

'Taste like gasoline? Hey.' Grady slapped Norman across the face from behind. 'Fucking North Georgia right there, boy.'

The woman of the house suddenly came into the room and offered Grady a shot-glass with some sort of liquor in it. 'Fuckup.' Grady now looked at her and took the glass. 'Donkey.' He emptied it over Norman's head, and slammed it back on the table.

'Appreciate it.' he said while Wardaddy offered him his bottle in silence and Grady turned around to see the piano.

'Look at that.' He started slamming the keys, with a horrible sound coming out, and Agnes slowly closed her eyes again, but then opened them.

'Grady, stop it!' she screamed. She didn't just shout or yell, she literally screamed, which actually startled Wardaddy, Gordo and Bible, but it didn't startle Grady. He slowly turned around and then sat down on the keyboard. He looked her in the eyes and she looked back, both glances of death. Then Collier turned to Boyd.

'Go have a seat.' He sat down next to Agnes. Collier had clearly spoken to Boyd only but everybody sat down at this point. Just in time, the woman brought in a frying pan filled with fried eggs. Bible started handing them out, wanting to give one to Gordo, but Wardaddy interfered.

'That's the girl's egg.' They stopped in the middle of the process. 'That's Gordo's egg.' Bible replied. '_That's the girl's egg._' Don repeated and Gordo threw the egg back into the pan. 'Then where the fuck was my egg?'

'You want to say grace?' Bible asked while everybody's plate was filled except for Gordo's.

'This meal is for you.' 'Roger. Our father, lord in heaven. Thank you for preserving our lives another day on earth so we may execute your will. We love you dear lord, thank you for this wonderful meal and company, amen.' Everybody repeated the last word he said and started eating. Bible directly stuffing the whole egg in his mouth while looking upon Wardaddy's face, as if wanting to make a statement that he was fed up with everything and everyone right now. There was no more place at the table for anyone else, so Collier ordered Emma to sit down at the piano.

'Offer the girl her plate.' Bible passed the plate on to Grady, and Grady passed it on to Emma, not without the necessary sassiness.

'Hang on, there. I'm gonna fix that for you.' he said as soon as Emma had sat down and he stood up and walked over to her. With the necessary disgusted look of Emma, he picked up her egg and licked both sides of it. As soon as he dropped it back on her plate again he raised his hands towards Wardaddy.

'I didn't touch her.' There was a brief moment of silence.

'You never touched me either but was there any need for you to fuck up my egg?' Agnes asked. It was clear to see that she was mad because he had disturbed the peace she cherished, and because he was bothering this innocent girl.

'You want me to fix yours too then?' 'Don't you dare touch my food, I've been waiting on a meal like this for days.'

'Have you now? I thought you didn't eat.' He sat down again. It had shut her up, but made her angrier either way. Both Gordo and Bible gave Grady hesitating glances meaning: 'Maybe you should not have said that.' But Wardaddy went back to what was going on again. He switched his plate with Emma's, and everybody looked at him while he ate the egg that had touched Grady's filthy tongue. Collier non-verbally let the hostess know that he liked the taste of his egg. They ate further in silence until Agnes felt the need to speak.

'Why did you have to say it?' she asked. 'Aggie, it's alright for now.' Bible mumbled softly, trying to preserve the calm mood.

'No it's not, Boyd. Grady, why did you have to say it?' 'Why do you care?' he asked. 'Do you think I want to be remembered of it every fucking day?'

'Well, it's a funny story. You grief in a very funny way, Angel. Norman, did you know there's a lot of funny stories about Agnes?'

'Stop it.' she said, but Grady ignored her. 'There's the one where she didn't eat. And there's the one where she's fucking screaming at me being ungrateful for everything while she's really not in the place to do so.' Grady turned his head from Norman back to Agnes.

'What do you mean?' Agnes asked while she looked at the table, somehow seeming too afraid to look Grady in the eyes. 'Oh, you know what I mean.'

'I saved this girl's dignity, people.' 'Grady.' Agnes looked him in the eyes. 'Don't, please.' Was that watery eyes he saw there? He didn't much care at this moment, he was drunk and she was ungrateful.

'You're here being a bitch to me but without me you be lying somewhere in the mud with a broken cunt and your throat cut open.' She looked down at the table again.

'Yes, Don, I was the one to save the girl that was under your protection from rape.' Grady looked at Wardaddy but Collier couldn't manage to speak.

'I killed the son of a bitch. American trying to hurt one of his own, the bastard. And I tried to comfort her, while all she could bring out was: don't tell Bible. Please, don't tell Boyd.' He impersonated her voice quoting that. Bible, who'd been staring at nothing the entire time Grady had been talking, even though this story was new to him, now looked at Agnes, but Agnes could not bear to look at him.

'Why didn't you tell me?' he asked with caring voice. He wasn't the same heartless bastard Grady was when he was drunk. Agnes didn't reply verbally. All she did was get up, and leave the apartment.

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**A/N:** I am super curious to hear what you think of this chapter! Please leave a review! Until next time 3


	10. Stockings and Suspenders

'Great, Grady. Thank you.' Wardaddy spoke moments after Agnes had left the room.

'How is that my fault? It's not my fault she's a whiny fucking woman.' Gordo scoffed, and Bible spoke.

'You ask how that is your fault?' Bible asked. 'What are you? Stupid?' Grady sighed. 'You best go after her then.' It sounded as if he was slightly starting to understand that he should not have said all the things he'd said.

'Me? Why me?' Bible asked calmly. 'Why do you think you?' Grady replied.

'I'd rather not hear you say it.' Boyd replied, and Norman didn't know what exactly he'd meant with that, but he noticed the rest of them did so he decided not to ask and be annoying.

'Don?' Bible looked at him in a hopeful way, but Collier immediately shook his head. 'I'm not the person for it. She's really upset.' It became silent and everybody looked at Bible, after which he sighed, stood up with a loud noise coming from his chair scraping over the ground and then walked down the stairs.

As soon as he got outside he noticed how the sun had slightly begun setting. But there was still plenty of orange daylight. Agnes was nowhere to be found until his eyesight covered more distance and he spotted her in an alley just before she walked out of sight. He scampered after her, and found her in the clear alley looking up at one of the buildings. A child's corpse was hanging from the window.

'Aggie?' She didn't look at him, but he knew she'd heard him.

'Someone has to get them down.' Her voice was unstable. 'Someone else will do it.' Boyd said while he kept his distance. Now Agnes looked at him.

'How do you know that?' she asked. 'It's not your job.' Her eyes were teary, like he'd never seen them before, but still they were beautiful as ever.

'Are you angry with me?' she asked, as she had noticed he'd kept his distance.

'I'm only confused. Why did you not tell me?' 'Can't you see?' she asked immediately after he spoke. They looked at each other in silence for a second and Bible already understood without Agnes uttering a word.

'You'll never be weak in my eyes, Agnes. You know that.' When one tear escaped her eye, she couldn't manage to hold back another, and another, and another, until her face was all wet and Boyd walked towards her.

He embraced her as she clutched onto him and started crying more loudly, still not loud enough for anyone else but Bible to hear her. He slightly shushed her with his calming voice, not really speaking any words, just calming noises. It was quite helpful. She calmed down before she noticed how Grady had followed Bible. He was leaning against the wall of one of the alley's houses and watched them.

He cleared his throat before he spoke. 'I wish to atone.'

'That's some fancy words you've got there,' Agnes spoke while she let go of Boyd and walked towards him. 'I expect you've no reasonable explanation?' Grady shook his head, after which Agnes put her arms around his shoulders and hugged him tight.

'I don't like fighting with anyone but I hate fighting with you.' she spoke with muted voice. Grady looked at Bible while he carefully put his hands around her waist with a look that asked what the fuck he was supposed to do. This was just a friendly hug, which he had multiple times before but now Boyd was standing right in front of them, though he seemed totally okay with it and smiled a little. Grady could almost hear what he was thinking: _'That's why her.'_

'I could really use a bath.' Agnes said as she let go of Grady, completely changing the subject. She looked back at Bible for a second and then started walking back towards the apartment.

'I'm gonna be doing some laundry, you want me to wash your clothes you best come quick.' she spoke while she walked. She was gone from the alley within mere seconds.

'I'm sorry.' Grady mumbled towards Boyd. 'It's okay.' Bible spoke fairly. 'Maybe I should've told you.'

'It was either what she wanted or what I wanted and you chose her, simple math, it doesn't matter.' 'I chose her because she was frightened. She was terrified to death. Not of you of course,' 'Oh I was about to think you'd say that.' Bible scoffed and Grady couldn't help but smile. 'Have you seen her cry?' Grady asked. Boyd shook his head as his smile remained on his face.

'Yeah… I have. It's not the greatest experience in my life.' Bible started laughing and Grady followed. 'Why?' Bible asked. 'Because it makes you feel so sorry for her. I've seen other people cry without giving a flying fuck about it. I didn't even know Angel that long by the time it happened but damn…' Grady replied. Bible grinned as he walked towards his friend.

'Let's get back, I bet I'm not the only one who's hungry.'

While they found their way back to the apartment, they crossed the town's square. Most of the women were gone already, and greed for pleasure had made place for friendship among the men. They didn't care much about women anymore, just about their comrades. Bible and Grady got stuck up into a conversation with Binkowski and Peterson, talking about nothing basically, but when they hunger called them back to the apartment. Everybody started claiming houses for the night, but then after that coming back outside again because outside it was merrier.

A surprise awaited them inside the apartment. A woman. Agnes, who'd taken off her clothes to wash, was wearing one of either Emma's or the other woman's dresses, complete with stockings in a nude-green colour and suspenders that were slightly visible when she walked because her dress was short. It was a black summer dress, with a quite low cut, but just high enough to be sophisticated and delicate.

But she wasn't the only surprise, it was the delicious smell of food, and as soon as they smelled it both of them immediately knew that Agnes was cooking, only she could make an entire house smell so good.

Both Norman and Collier had given their shirts to Agnes for washing, which made their torsos exposed but nobody minded. The shirts and Agnes' entire attire were hanging from the apartment's small French balcony balustrade.

'You're too late, folks.' Agnes said with a soft grin, looking at the drying laundry. 'What is that delicious smell I'm smelling?' Boyd immediately asked, looking at her as if he could not keep his eyes off her, and as if he just couldn't stop smelling the smell he smelled.

'_That_, my friend, is British stew, with beef, potatoes, onions and some delicious vegetables, with a side of bred with garlic butter and a salad.' she made fun of the way she said it, as if she were a waitress in a fancy restaurant, presenting something not so great as something amazing. She didn't think much of her own cooking, but Bible, as well as Grady, as well as Gordo and as well as Don knew it was amazing.

'My friend?' Bible asked while he approached to her. 'Is that what you call me now, have I been degraded to a friend?' The mood was so merry that she spontaneously hugged him.

'Will my friend help me prepare the table?' she asked and Bible smiled as he nodded. While Wardaddy smoked a cigarette and read a newspaper, Grady and Gordo chatted, Emma and Norman tried to talk but were slightly bothered by the language barrier, and Bible and the other woman prepared the table, the eight of them heard loud footsteps on the stairs. Not just from one person, but from a group of men.

'Wow, seems like you found an undeserted house.' Binkowski and his platoon entered the apartment.

'What is that lovely smell, is that food for us?' Binkowski asked. Wardaddy grinned as he killed his cigarette in an ashtray.

'Agnes, have you got enough stew for five more men?' he called as she was in the kitchen.

'Yes I damn well do.' she entered the living room and Binkowski and his men were astonished by her looks.

'My lady.' Binkowski said with big eyes. 'Binkowski, sir. Good to see you. So… you want to eat from my table? It's gonna cost you.' she said.

'Alright, which one do you want, the booze I have in my left hand,' He held up the full bottle of Jack Daniels he had in his hand. 'Or the party I have in my pants?'

'I would sit down before sir Swan knocks you the fuck out, I'll take the booze.' They both smirked and Agnes returned to the kitchen while the apartment's owner slowly and reluctantly started to realise she'd need five more plates on the table.

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**A/N:** Back again! I hope you liked this chapter, you can decide for yourself to which question Bible's answer was 'That's why her' ;) Please leave a review, and until next time!


	11. Secrets and Promises

'Your turn.' Binkowski turned to Agnes and she tipped her finger against the cigarette in her hand and then put it to her mouth again.

'Okay,' she said while she blew out some smoke. 'Secret or promise?' They had turned the well-known game 'truth or dare' into 'secret or promise'. You would either have to reveal one of your secrets to the entire group playing, or reveal a promise you made to someone, or make a promise to one of the players. They used to play the original truth or dare, but then they'd found out they're more interested in people's own secrets than in the answers to simple, closed questions, and that the dares were just starting to get too intense.

Binkowski's crew had gone to their own claimed house, but Binkowski himself stayed because the Fury-crew _containing Wardaddy_ was way more fun. They all sat around the table, Emma and the other woman as well even though they did not understand what everyone said. They did understand what was going on though.

'Secret.' Agnes told Binkowski. He could now either say _'past'_, '_thoughts'_, _'regrets'_ or _'home'_, she would have to tell the group a secret about one of these subjects. Binkowski chose past.

'Alright, let me think…' She blew the smoke from her cigarette up in the air. Then she thought of something she could say.

'Okay, um… I know you all think I came from a wealthy family, which by the way I did not tell you, you all just suspected it but it's not true. I'm from London's center, and I didn't come from a good home. And… here's the secret,' She lifted up part of her hair close to her neck and revealed a scar.

'You've all seen this, it's not because I fell when I was playing on the streets as a child. It's cause…' She sighed heavily so her emotions wouldn't overpower her. 'My father was abusive.' She smiled a little. 'My brother took most of the strikes for me, but yeah… he's gone now, I mean not dead but he left my mom so…' She snorted, not because she was crying but because of the sudden silence.

'Well, he's a bastard.' Binkowski replied to her story. 'Agreed, what do we say to that?' Gordo asked. 'Nobody hurts our Angel.' Wardaddy said. It seemed as if everyone repeated that inside their heads.

'Okay, Norman, your turn.' He had not had a turn ever since they started playing, and he actually didn't mind. 'Secret or promise?' He swallowed. 'Secret?' Agnes thought about what to say. 'Hmmm… regrets.' He immediately knew something he could say, but he wasn't going to say it. Not in front of these people. He would say that he regretted signing up for the army, because he did not want to die.

'I regret not properly saying goodbye to my dad before I left home. He's turned very ill these last two months and he might not make it.' It was silent for a moment, and nobody knew what to say.

'That sucks.' Agnes then said and she put the last bit of her cigarette to her mouth. 'Well, I guess your situation is worse.' Norman mumbled. 'No it's not.' Agnes said indignantly. 'My dad's gone and I don't even _want_ to see him.' she scoffed. 'I hope your old man makes it.' she finished. It remained silent for a few seconds.

'Norman, you're supposed to ask someone for a secret or promise.' He suddenly realised how stupid his silence may have seemed.

'Oh, yeah, okay… Um… Agnes?' Agnes sighed with a soft smile, as if saying _'why would you choose me; I just answered a question'_.

'Secret or promise?' she replied. 'Promise?' 'Okay… let's see.' She thought deeply again. 'I promise myself to return to London after the war and to open a pastry shop because that has always been my dream as a child. And I will invite you all to come taste pastries. Don.' She immediately chose the new victim after she'd stated a promise to herself.

'Secret or promise?' he asked. 'Promise.' 'I promise to keep this girl right here alive so she can open that damn pastry shop so I can taste those pastries.' Everybody chuckled and there was some slight movement.

'I'm tired.' Bible suddenly said. 'We should all catch our sleep, Binkowski, you staying here for the night or with your boys?' Wardaddy asked.

'Nah, we got us a bigger house, I won't be cramped up with you any longer.'

'It is small in here.' Grady admitted. 'One less could help you… Angel you wanna come?' Binkowski asked and Agnes laughed. 'One night with you guys was enough, you are batshit crazy. I'm just gonna stay with…' she sighed and then put up a voice. 'My main guys.'

'Suit yourself.' Binkowski smirked and left the apartment after he'd wished everybody a good night's rest.

'Okay, the double bed should be good for three people… and there's a couch right there…' Agnes looked around. 'That's still four more people.' Gordo said. 'Okay, maybe four on the double… three left. Don, have you got any more creative solutions?'

'Pile of blankets on floor or table?' He asked Emma if they had any more blankets and pillows in German, after which Emma disappeared into another room and came back with loads of them.

'I'm still taking up a place on that bed, I like to take care of my back.' Wardaddy said. 'Claimed.' 'Claimed.' 'Claimed.' Agnes, Bible, and then Grady.

'Couch.' Gordo stated. They were literally taking up every good sleeping place before the two women that actually lived here could say anything, but the crew knew they needed their night's rest better than the women did.

'You guys just get ready, I want to write a letter.' Agnes said and the rest of them didn't have a problem with that. Bible, Collier and Grady disappeared into the bedroom, Gordo found his way into the corridor where the couch was placed, and Norman started to create himself a 'kind of' bed with blankets and pillows. It would suffice. Agnes sat down at the escritoire, not even bothering to ask one of the ladies whether she could use their sheets of paper. It wasn't a big deal though.

'Who's that letter for?' Norman asked. 'My brother.' Agnes replied while she dipped a pencil into some ink. But… wasn't her brother dead? He wanted to ask, but would first have to find a subtle way to do so.

'Is he in the army?' Agnes shook her head. 'No, he's at home. He was rejected because his eyesight wasn't good enough. Complete bollox of course, but well. At least I won't be losing both of my brothers.' So she had two brothers…

'It's a shame though,' Even though Agnes was facing Norman with her back, he could hear from her voice that she was smiling. 'He's quite patriotic, and I think he would to great at war. He's big, strong and smart.' Her British accent was more noticeable once she started talking about her brother.

'Ever seen one of those guys on the street with those big jaws and shoulders that you'd rather not get in trouble with?' 'Yeah.' Norman answered. 'My brother is that guy.'

She wrote for about five minutes, and then she made clear that she was done by putting the letter in an envelope and writing a post-address on it, then getting up from the chair she'd been sitting on.

'Good night, Norman.' she said. 'Gute nacht.' She gave Emma and the other woman a nod and then went into the bedroom she, Bible, Collier and Grady had claimed. Norman could softly hear the people inside talking.

'Do you just have to do that?' he heard Collier asking. 'It's too hot and tight. And stop trying to act like you don't like what you see.' Agnes replied. 'Shut up and get on your back already.' Norman heard Agnes, Grady, Bible and Collier laughing. He heard a muffled sound of someone jumping on a bed, and then it was silent, until there was a quiet 'good night' from Agnes.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey, hey, hey! I hope you liked the chapter, and as always please leave a review! And in case I won't be uploading in a few days: happy easter!


	12. Low Planes

It was almost ten o' clock, but still no sign of life was coming from the bedroom. Would Norman dare to take a look inside? He had noticed how outside people had already begun packing their stuff, indicating that the platoon was to move out soon. Norman didn't expect to find anything weird if he'd open the bedroom, he just didn't really think they would like it if he just came in like that. Emma and the other woman, who had now properly introduced herself as Irma, were already up and about. Norman just sat at the table.

He sat there until Gordo walked in with a sleepy, but rested head.

'Where are the rest of them?' he asked when he saw only Norman. 'Still asleep.' he replied.

'Why didn't you wake them up then? It's late.' Norman shrugged with a face that said he didn't know if they would accept it and Gordo chuckled. Then he slammed the doors to the bedroom open. There wasn't a lot of movement, but Norman was curious what Gordo had found there, so he stood up and walked in.

Grady was at the right side of the bed, facing away from the other three and slightly curled up while he was trying to block out the light that was coming from the window, and the sound that had come from the door. On the complete left side was Bible, just peacefully sleeping on his back. On his chest laid Agnes' head. She was curled up against him, so her head was on his chest and her left leg –still wearing those stockings- was bent over his waist and legs. Collier wasn't curled up, but was lying straight on his side, facing Agnes with his hand resting on her waist and his head resting in the curl of her neck.

'You have three seconds to get the fuck out.' they suddenly heard Wardaddy mutter.

'It's time to get up, Top. Ten o'clock.' Gordo said and he sat down into a chair in the corner of the room, Norman just stood at the doorstep. Nobody else moved, at least not voluntarily. Wardaddy suddenly had his arms around Agnes' waist and he slightly lifted her up, rolling her over himself, onto Grady, making Agnes moan in the process. Then he let go and enjoyed the empty space he had created. Agnes was the first to get up, and rolled over Grady onto the ground.

'Breakfast?' she asked while she gave Norman a sleepy look. Norman nodded. 'Irma and Emma are preparing something.' 'Who's Irma?' she asked while stretching her back. 'Not Emma.'

Moaning started to come from Bible's mouth. It wasn't quite clear what he was mumbling, but considering his surroundings it couldn't be anything else than 'Aggie'.

'Aggie… mmhhmmm… Agnes.' He was still half asleep, but he seemed to be aware of the fact that she was gone from his side and that was why he was angrily calling her name.

'What do you want Bible-boy?' Bible frowned with his eyes closed. 'I'm cold. Come back.'

'Hey, I didn't roll over the other two bastards voluntarily.' It was silent for a tiny moment while Bible sighed heavily. 'Then who made you?' He actually sounded legitimately pissed off, and Agnes clearly thought it was funny.

'I did. She took up too much space.' Collier said while he slightly got up. 'What time is it?'

'I already told you, Top. Ten o'clock. Time to get up, time for breakfast. Happy hour's in six.' Gordo jokingly added that last bit, because Wardaddy looked properly fucked up by the booze from last night.

'I don't need to watch happy hour, it's war I drink whenever I want.'

'Until you drop down.' Agnes muttered as she got up from the ground. 'What did you say?' Collier asked while he watched her walk out of the bedroom. He got up from the bed and ran straight after her.

'What did you say, miss?!' he repeated as he lifted her up by crossing his arms over her stomach and raising her from the ground. She screamed but immediately laughed, trying to get away but she couldn't as he was much stronger than her and her feet couldn't reach the ground.

'Let go of me you filthy bastard!' She talked extremely British on purpose. 'Only if you'll make us breakfast.' he said with his head next to hers from behind. 'I'm not even dressed, let the women do it.' 'So what are you then? Come on, we're gonna have a rough day at least let us have a decent breakfast.'

'Fine.' she said while she struggled out of his arms. After she'd said that, she suddenly heard a 'woohoo' from Bible, who'd also gotten up and was delighted by hearing the news that he would get to eat breakfast by Agnes. Agnes giggled as she made her way into the kitchen.

'Geez these German rich citizens have it a lot easier than the others, don't they?' Agnes said while she took a look at the cupboards. 'The rations are so unfairly devised.' She got out a few eggs, a loaf of bread, canned beans, bacon and noticed dried German sausages hanging in the back which she took as well. That would about do it. She scrambled the eggs, toasted the bread, cooked the beans, crisped the bacon and used oils and herbs to lush up the meat.

'British-fucking-breakfast, that's the only thing I love about your country.' Grady said while everybody sat down at the table and Agnes served the filled plates.

'Excuse me, sir. What about me?' 'Oh, right. The only beautiful girl from England.' Agnes chuckled. 'Stop it, that's not true.'

'Well, at least you're one of them.' Bible pleaded while he sat down as well. 'Don't forget to say grace.' Agnes replied, as she was the last to sit down.

'Dear Lord, thank you for putting Agner Towler on this earth to make us delicious breakfast in this time of war, so we may fill our bellies for another day and make it through there. We love you, dear Lord, just as we love our Angel, amen.' It remained silent just as people were starting to eat. They were trying not to laugh at Bible's grace, even though they knew it was meant to be humorous, but when Grady muttered 'preach it', everybody cracked up.

They ate their breakfast quick and merrily, after which it was really time to pack up. A Baker Company soldier came upstairs before long, stating that Captain Waggoner wanted to speak to Sergeant Collier. Collier told his crew to pack up the Fury while he was gone, and so they did. Norman said his goodbyes to Emma, which he couldn't take too much time for because Grady put the pressure of time on it. Agnes changed into her uniform magnificently quickly again, and packed up her stuff to take it outside.

The crew started tying their luggage to the tank, and Gordo, Grady and Norman continued by filling the tank with more gas, while Agnes and Bible installed themselves inside. Everybody was just doing their thing when they heard the planes coming. Not just ordinary planes, bombing planes, flying ridiculously low; making ready to bomb the place.

Chaos was created, and everybody started running to find cover.

'Grady! Jump! Jump!' Bible shouted at Grady to jump off and underneath the tank, while closing the main hatch. He and Agnes held hands while the bombs fell on the little town. One fell really close by and had caused the total explosion of a building. The planes were gone before too long. That was when everybody got out of their shelters again. Wardaddy was the first person Agnes saw when she got outside the tank.

'You okay?!' he called, as there was still quite some distance between the two of them. Agnes nodded. 'We're all fine.' she said, as she saw Gordo, Grady and Norman come out from underneath the tank.

'Get an aid-station ready!' Agnes shouted to everybody as she already noticed the first wounded soldiers lying on the ground.

'Medic! We need a medic over here!' One soldier, who was kneeled down next to his wounded friend called out, and Agnes ran over to them and kneeled down beside them.

'Are you a medic? Where's your armband?' the soldier asked. 'Shut it.' she snapped back after which she immediately started studying the wounded man. His right lower-leg was completely blown off. 'I'm a nurse. Take off your coat.' she ordered to the other soldier. 'What?' 'Take off your coat and give it to me!' He finally did as he was told, after which Agnes put her teeth into the sleeve of the coat and ripped off a piece that she put around what was left of the soldier's leg. 'Push right here for me. Tight.' She other soldier did as he was told and Agnes started tying the piece of fabric tightly, while the wounded man screamed in pain.

'Now you wait for the fucking medic.' She slowly got up again and noticed how Norman had found out which house had been bombed; the house that the entire crew had spent the night in.

'Emma!' he shouted loudly.

'Norman!' Grady had directly gone after him. Norman climbed the rubble. Emma's corpse was perfectly exposed through the bricks for everybody to see. 'Emma!'

'Get back!' Grady pulled him back and Norman rolled further over the ground. 'What is wrong with you?!' Norman screamed while he tried to fight his comrade but he couldn't win. Nobody would win from Grady. Grady soon had his arm around Norman's head, keeping him from moving while Norman cried and hit him.

'You feel that?! It's called war!' Grady shouted and Norman screamed. 'It's called fucking war!'

'Fury, we gotta go!' Wardaddy called for his crew from the tank. Grady finally let go of Norman, but gave him a kick back into the right direction.

'Who the hell do you think you are?!' Norman could only weep. He didn't want to be in this fucking war. He could not fucking do it anymore. Agnes was just walking back to the tank when she noticed Norman meeting her direction. Norman only expected her to be just like Grady. _'She never cried' 'Agnes is super tough' 'She wouldn't cry over some random person she just met'. _Instead she called for him.

'Norman.' He stopped walking and looked at her. There was only grief on her face while she spread her arms just this little for him to fall into them and cry.


	13. Wild Predator

'_Like the city that nurtured my greed and my pride, I stretched my arms into the sky. I cried, Babel, Babel, look at me now, for the walls in my town they come crumbling down.'_

Agnes, Binkowski, and a few soldiers that Norman didn't know the names of had found their guitars. Though, Agnes wasn't playing a regular guitar, it gave a funny sound. Now it was her turn to sing.

'_You asked where will we stand in the winds that will howl, as all we see will slip into the clouds. So come down from your mountain and stand where we've been, you know our breath is weak and our body thin.' _Her voice was so loud, because of the intenseness of the guitars and the song in general, but so clear and high-pitched it was goddamn beautiful. Norman wondered if they were the ones that made the song, as it made him think of a war. Where soldiers were put to the task to kill each other for the victory of the leaders who sacrifice absolutely nothing to fight their own war. A war that killed innocents. Innocents like Emma. Even though a few days had passed, Norman was still not over her death, but nobody seemed to care about that anymore. The music had eased down.

The whole convoy had been driving for a few hours now, and decided to have a little break. Waggoner had given the four tanks the assignment to keep a crossroad a Kraut legion was heading for. A very important crossroad, to be exact. Wardaddy was sitting next to Old Phyllis with the other sergeants, Agnes was sitting in a circle with some other musicians next to Murder Inc., and Norman, Bible, Gordy and Grady were sitting next to the Fury, just resting, drinking some coffee and chatting a bit. Then Agnes joined in, still holding that unusual guitar. She was smiling, she seemed eased, and that made Norman dare to talk to her.

'What kind of guitar is that, Agnes?' he asked. She looked up to him, then looked at the guitar, then looked at him again. 'It's a banjo.' She sat down and made a typical tune with it that Norman recognized, and then giggled to herself. Almost immediately after that, Wardaddy came to sit next to her.

'What was the name of the song you guys were singing?' Norman asked. 'Babel.' 'By?' 'Me, for the lyrics. But the actual music was made by me and Binkowski and some others.' She didn't seem to find that a big deal, but Norman was impressed by her skills of making a song.

'You wrote it?' 'I wrote several. The Stupid and the Proud, The Cave, Broken Crown, Hopeless Wanderer, Little Lion Man and Babel. They're all on a basis of guitar, because that's the only portable instrument I play. But I've got this massive song in my head that would require and entire big band to play it. I've already written out the lyrics though.' She never talked this much to Norman without Norman asking several questions; this seemed to be a subject she could discuss for hours. She loved music, which was clear to everybody.

'Could you sing it to me?' That was a tiny step too far. 'Maybe later, Norman.' she replied in a correcting manner. Wardaddy threw the cigarette he had been smoking on the ground and sighed.

'All right. Let's go.' He got up and walked towards the Fury, while he shouted for everyone to move out. Everybody got back into their place again, and Agnes shared the main hatch with Collier once again.

The two of them could hear Peterson and Binkowski chatting over the intercom, but they didn't mind. They weren't talking about important stuff.

All was good and calm, until the tanks heard a sudden blast, and Peterson, who'd just been in the middle of a sentence, was suddenly out. His entire tank had exploded along with the crew members inside.

'Holy shit!' Agnes immediately shouted as she looked back to see what had happened. Wardaddy immediately reached for the intercom.

'All tanks! Reverse! Hard left! Back up!' All the tanks made a sudden shift to the left, and then went backwards into a muddy field.

'Binkowski, are you hit?' Agnes asked, taking over Wardaddy's intercom. Peterson had been driving really close to Binkowski's tail.

'I'm okay. They seem to have hit their target well.' 'Fuck.' Collier took the intercom from her again.

'Does anybody have any vision? That was an 88 it's a goddamn tank. Angel?!' 'Nothing! Put some more smoke in his face!'

'Bible, follow that girl's orders.' 'On the way!' A blast of smoke met the engine that had hit Peterson, while the sergeants and Agnes kept trying to focus their eyes enough to see what exactly had hit him.

'More smoke?' They heard Bible shouting from below after a while. 'No! I've almost got full vision!' Agnes replied. It took Wardaddy about ten full seconds of continuously switching between looking ahead, and at Agnes' face, until he noticed a change of her emotions. She turned from focused and frustrated, to shocked and stressed.

'What do your eyes see?' 'It's a tiger…' Collier tried to spot it too, and as it approached he succeeded. 'Fuck.' He grabbed the intercom. 'All tanks, it's a goddamn tiger.' They could now all see it 'hiding' in the hedgerow, and some could even hear its roaring engine.

'We gotta get to that crossroad, we gotta get past him.' Binkowski said calmly but stressed at the same time.

'Come on, Don let's get the fuck out of here!' Davis shouted.

'Unless he drowns himself in a shit-filled ditch he's our problem. Hit that son of a bitch!'

'_Fire when ready!' _All three tanks started firing more smoke, until Davis shouted for everybody to stop. Cease fire and cease going backwards. But as the Tiger approached there was no time to hesitate.

'All right, all tanks move forward.' Wardaddy spoke. 'Let's go right at 'em, let's go right at 'em.' Davis implied. All tanks went forward at full speed. Then the Tiger fired a sudden round, and just as Wardaddy was trying to find his helmet, keeping his head outside to keep aware of what was going on, a shell exploded right next to the Fury. The impact was massive, and threw both Agnes and Wardaddy to the left, smashing them against the opened hatch. At least, Collier was smashed against the hatch, and Agnes against him.

'Holy shit.' Agnes said while she held her hand against her forehead. Her head had only had to endure the impact of the shell's blast, but Wardaddy's head had had to endure the impact from both the shell and the hatch against his skull. And he was out.

'Don?!' Agnes shouted as he wouldn't open his eyes and started sliding down. 'Fuck!' She grabbed the intercom. 'All tanks, slow down! Man down!' She followed his limp body down into the tank, where she felt his pulse. 'Oh, god. He's still alive.'

'What's going on?' Bible asked, looking back at the two of them. 'Don passed out. He'll be fine.' She got back up and outside the hatch, and grabbed the intercom.

'All tanks, this is Angel. Collier is out but he'll be okay. What should I do?'

'Just take over command, darling. You're a smart girl, you know how this works.' Binkowski's voice was calm and soothing.

'Fuck. Um… okay.' She got herself into a better position and then looked at the Tiger again. It was nearing.

'All tanks forward! Let's fuck them up, each one take a side. Gordo left flank! Let's bum-rush this cocksucker. Binkowski you take that right flank! Davis, left with me, stay abreast.'

'Clear!' Grady shouted. 'Hit 'em!' Agnes commanded. 'On the way!' They missed the target, and the shell ricocheted.

'_Commence!' 'Alright, pump him! Pump him!' _All tanks started firing shells.

'What do you want, Angel?!' Grady shouted from below, but she didn't know what to do. But it seemed like the sergeants didn't either. There was only one option.

'Again!' she shouted. 'Fuck, Grady. Put it in, now.' Bible said stressed. 'Clear!' 'On the way!'

They hit their target. But the tiger's armour was so strong that it barely left any damage.

'Hit 'em!' 'Clear!' 'On the way!' The shell landed just next to the Tiger. There was a moment of cease-fire as everybody seemed to be reloading, the Tiger included.

'It's a fucking beast.' Gordo said. 'Gordo! Flank left! Left!' 'Davis, cross him. Flank right, flank right.' '_Copy. Right stick! Traverse left.' _

'Davis. He's lining up.' '_Fire!'_ Davis hit the Tiger but did not manage to bring any damage to it.

'Binkowski! Bible! Fuck! Shoot the son of a bitch, he's lining up on Roy!' They both traversed but it took too long. 'God damn it! I said fire!'

The Tiger needed only one shell to take Davis out. His entire tank was first lit and then exploded.

'God damn it.' Agnes took a moment to progress what had just happened. _'Angel?' _It had been about half a minute since Binkowski had said anything, and she'd honestly almost forgotten about him as she and Davis had been so busy to trap the Tiger between them. His voice woke her up again.

'Roy's gone. It's you and me Binkowski. It's up to us now.' The Tiger suddenly came to a halt.

'Gordo! Get around him! Put us on his backside! If we get behind him we can kill him! Go! Go!' The Tiger was about to aim for Binkowski, but then noticed how Fury was about to stab him in the back, so they changed targets. The Tiger was switched to reverse and drove backwards, as Norman started shooting bullets, just to keep them distracted. Bullets were given back in return, and Agnes lowered her position a little. Glaring over the edges of the hatch. 'God damn it!' The Tiger went forward now, and fired a shell at the Fury. It only made superficial damage.

'God damn it! Fuck!' 'What was that?' Norman shouted. 'We got hit!' Gordo stated.

'Boyd are you alright?!' Grady shouted.

'We lost power traverse! Switching to manual!' Bible said. Agnes popped her head inside for a tiny second. 'Everybody okay?' She didn't get a reply but she could see that everybody was alive and well –except for Wardaddy of course but he was in a stable position-, so she looked back up again.

'Bible, hit him!' 'On the way!' The Tiger was traversing towards them.

'He's coming around, he's coming around!' Agnes shouted. 'Binkowski, little help would do!'

'_We got technical difficulties! Oil is fucking leaking out, traversing is stuck!' _'Fuck!' Agnes hissed. 'Gordo, you gotta outrun that gun!'

'Yeah, I got it! I got it!' he shouted back. Fury got hit again, but this time it brought no damage at all. 'Gordo! Put it in third! Right stick! Bible, you put it up his ass. Where the armour is thin.'

'I know where to fucking hit him!' Bible shouted back at her. 'Boyd you're clear!' 'On the way!'

The shell went right past the Tiger and landed somewhere a few hundred yards away.

'God damn it! I said the ass!' 'We're moving too fast! It's not that fucking easy!' It sounded like a fight between them but Agnes actually listened to him.

'Gordo when I say back up, you back up. Left stick.' 'All right! I got it!'

'Bible, stand by. I'll call the shot.' 'Roger! Roger!' She waited another two seconds.

'Gordo! Now! Reverse! Reverse! Left stick!' They went backwards. 'Bible. Steady. Steady.'

'Come on, Bible! Fucking shoot him!' Gordo shouted, but Bible waited patiently for Angel's command. 'Steady!' A second passed. 'Now! Bible! Now!' 'On the way!' They hit it straight in the bull's eye, but it wasn't enough.

'Fuck! Grady, one more! Grady!' 'Clear!' 'Again!' Agnes shouted. 'On the way!' Bible hit the Tiger again in the exact same spot, and this time it was enough. The Tiger's engine failed and it was lit on fire.

'Target destroyed.' Bible muttered. 'Gordo, halt.' Agnes commanded.

Two krauts were already outside their vehicle and wanted to run away, but Norman got them. 'Fucking Nazi's! Fuck you!'

Then a German sergeant came out and started shooting at Agnes with his hand gun, but Agnes was soon enough to duck down and get out her own gun. She needed only two bullets to hit him. Enemy destroyed.

The crew finally had a moment to breathe again. Agnes sighed heavily as she looked back at the destroyed Sherman that once belonged to Sergeant Davis.

'Bible, will you check on Don?' she then said, so calm and softly, so different than seconds before. She needed more fresh air. Her arms and legs helped her climb out of the tank, and she got to the muddy ground. It was muddy, but not sloppy.

Agnes breathing in heavily through her nose, and then out through her mouth again, after which she looked at Binkowski's tank. Binkowski had come out too, and was walking towards her. He arrived within about ten seconds.

'Holy fuck, girl.' he said quietly and Agnes sighed again, releasing her stress. 'I thought they were going to kill them. It was nothing more than quick thinking.'

'From a woman.' Agnes managed to grin. 'That shouldn't make a bloody difference.' There was a quick moment of silence. 'What's wrong with your tank?' she asked as she looked up to him, squinting her eyes against the hard, grey light that was coming through the clouds. He was about four inches taller than her.

'When Peterson got hit, some debris hit the back of Lucy Sue, so now oil is leaking out.' he replied. 'Can you continue on with it?' she asked, but Binkowski shook his head.

'It's going to take my repairer at least a day to fix this.' He started getting out a cigarette, offering one to Agnes but she refused. He lit one for himself.

'We gotta reach that crossroad.' Agnes said, looking ahead, her eyes meeting the destroyed Old Phyllis.

'You should go on without us, then we'll meet you there later.' Agnes sighed as she bit her nails. 'I don't know.' Binkowski observed her puzzling for a few seconds.

'Hey.' By saying that he forced her to look at his face. 'Don will approve of your decision.' 'I'm just not made for this type of thing. Leading. It fucked up the people that followed me once before and I don't want that to happen to them. I fucking love these guys.'

'Then let me put it this way. I am a sergeant, you are a private, and I order you to proceed to the cross road without me.' That made Agnes smile.

'Okay.' Binkowski gave her a last pat on the back and then she got back inside the Fury again.

'Hopefully Don will wake back up soon. Binkowski's got difficulties. We're going to that crossroad. We're on our own.'


	14. North Gate

Don moaned and rubbed his head.

'Good morning, honey. Rise and shine.' The feminine voice was slightly echoing, and was somehow a little muffled. He couldn't distinguish whose voice it was. Not yet. That would come later. How did he get here? The hard ground on which he was lying was slightly shaking. He stated that he was inside a vehicle.

'Don?' He heard the voice again. 'Top, are you awake?' A masculine voice. Top… He knew where he was, and who'd been talking to him. Agnes and Gordo.

'God damn it.' Collier got himself up, causing a slight headache, but it wasn't bad enough to interrupt his movement. He sighed and moaned while he rubbed his head to get a clearer mind and vision.

'There you go.' Agnes' face was close in front of his own and he squinted his eyes a bit.

'Any headache?' she asked. Don shook his head. 'Nah.'

'Do you feel like you're going to be sick?' she then asked.

'No. God damn it, woman. I know the symptoms of a concussion, I don't have them.' He got himself up, as he felt the need for fresh air.

'No need to be rude, Wardaddy.' she replied, but she didn't sound offended either way.

Collier opened the hatch, and popped outside. He inhaled the fresh air, and then Agnes suddenly popped up before him, her body almost pressed against his due to the narrowness of the hole.

'Where are we?' he asked, looking around at the fields that they were moving through. Agnes sighed.

'Well, I don't know the exact location, but we're headed for the crossroad.' she replied.

'Where are the others?' 'Binkowski was left behind. He's well and alive but Lucy Sue is leaking oil.' She fell silent and looked at her feet.

'Roy?' Her eyes met his, and she shook her head.

'What happened to the Tiger?' Agnes shrugged and scratched her head.

'Lucy Sue failed Binkowski too soon, so we had to take him out on our own. Binkowski told me to take command so I did.' Wardaddy sighed as he looked at the girl in an inspecting manner.

'Did _you_ take out a Tiger?' Agnes nodded.

'Then I'm very fucking proud of you.' He embraced her as he managed to put a smile on her face. She pressed the side of her head against his chest.

'What were you? In the British army, I mean.' he asked after a few dozen seconds of silence, still holding her tight, resting his chin on top of her head.

'Corporal Towler. I had five people under my command, I led a machine-gun squad as leading sniper.' It was quiet for a few seconds.

'You never told me how they died.' Don then stated. Agnes buried her face in his chest.

'I don't want to talk about it.' They remained standing silent for about ten seconds.

'Agnes?'

'Yeah?'

'Did you call me honey just a minute ago?' he asked and Agnes laughed and freed her face again.

'Gordo told me to do it to see if you would speak anyone's name.' Collier smiled. 'That's stupid.'

'Hey, you won't tell us anything about your past and home, how are we supposed to know you if we don't even know your wife's name? Do you even have a wife at all?' Collier sighed and then pressed Agnes' head against his chest again.

'I did.' He sighed but it didn't sound like a sad sigh, more like a satisfied sigh. 'Yes I did, sweet girl.' Agnes thought about that for a second. 'Did she die?' she asked, truly intrigued. Wardaddy sighed again. 'She left me. Not for another man, at least, not that I know of. She just disappeared. She left me a note saying nothing more than: _Dear Don, I've gone but worry not, you won't be bothered by me anymore. I love you, Lucy.'_ Agnes turned her head upwards to look at him.

'That seems cruel.' 'It wasn't meant cruel. Lucy wasn't a cruel person. She was lovely, actually. But something had always been off about her. I just didn't really care about that.' 'You speak of her in past tense, do you presume she's dead?' Agnes suggested.

'I don't know. But I know I'll never see her again. So I might just pretend she's dead.' Agnes leaned her head against his chest again.

'Lucy is a pretty name.' she muttered. 'Do you know that when I was younger, about eleven or so, I always wished my name was Lucy?' Wardaddy scoffed. 'Why? I like _Agnes _better. My mind somehow links the name to strength.'

'And do you know any other girls named Agnes?' 'No.' 'Well now you know where it comes from.' He pinched her side so she would crawl out of his grasp.

'Don't get your head in the clouds, now.' 'Oh please. You know what happened in Normandy, and I know you've not forgotten.' They both grinned. 'I meant physical strength.' Collier joked. 'Yeah. How about you go fuck yourself, Wardaddy.'

'_Radio check. Love 1-6. Are you receiving?'_ Collier immediately grabbed the radio.

'This is Love 1-6, receiving. What is your message?' he replied.

'_We need immediate backup. Baker Company is trying to take a town, but the Krauts using anti-tank against foot soldiers. We got no tanks.' _

'Which town?' Collier asked. _'Ersdorf. Do you know where that is?_' 'I do, but I got to hold a very important crossroad. Who's giving you orders?'

'_Captain Waggoner. He told me to tell you this is first priority. The crossroad can wait, we gotta take this town.' _

'What about the Krauts heading for the crossroads then?' _'They're delayed by the Canadians. Will give you at least a day time.'_ 'Alright. We're headed your way.' _'Ersdorf, North gate, we'll meet you there.' _

After Collier had checked the maps, it only took them about fifteen minutes to drive there, as they weren't obliged to follow the roads. They driving a tank, after all.

They arrived at the scene in about ten minutes, already hearing gun-fire from far away. Wardaddy grabbed the radio again.

'Baker Company, are you receiving?' Within about ten seconds he got a reply. _'Yes.' _

'Can you give me any information about the enemy hide-outs? Maybe we can take them out from farther away, I don't wanna bring my crew in danger unnecessarily.'

'_They should be visible from outside the city-walls, but you can't get close enough to actually hit them, those walls are very high.' _Collier grinned.

'Well, that's why we got a sniper.' '_What?'_ 'Where are they located?' '_Somewhere between the south tower and the east tower.' _'Alright. Got it. I'll see what we can do.' He put the radio down again.

'Okay, Gordo, drive about half a mile more to the east. Agnes, you keep your eyes open and tell me when to stop.' 'Roger.' Agnes scoured the city-walls, and when they finally came to the other side of them, she could see a small anti-tank canon on top of the wall.

'What do you want?' Collier asked her. 'A few dozen metres further, then halt.' Gordo had already heard her, and followed her orders. They stopped in an open field, and Agnes popped inside for a second to get her rifle. She installed herself on top of the Fury, sitting on her knees on the side, the rifle installed on the rotating part –that wasn't rotating-. She searched for the cannon again, and then –through her scope- tried to identify the Krauts operating it. Collier got his binoculars out, following her glance, and that way he was able to identify the people too.

'Hmm. They're moving.' he said, in a frustrated way. He saw Agnes grin, without her moving an inch away from her scope.

'Movements are predictable, Top.' She waited for another ten seconds before firing a bullet, but she had hit her first target in the head. 'That is damn impressive, girl.' Collier complimented.

'I have to say, I agree.' she replied, giving notice that this had been one of her best shots in a long time. She took the second one in the back, and that was all there was. Collier grabbed the radio.

'We took out the anti-tank.' he stated. _'Brilliant. We'll meet you at the north gate.' _'You got it.' It took them two minutes to get to the north gate, where they found out that inside the city, Baker Company was still competing with the presence of some more Krauts, hiding in buildings. But they were just regular-weaponed soldiers, so they were taken out within minutes, being finished by shell of the Fury.

Then suddenly there was ease.

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**A/N: **Hey there! The next chapter, there you go. I must say I'm not completely satisfied with the chapter, because I'm really not sure about what originally went on in Wardaddy's past, so I just tried to figure out a way myself.

I hope you liked it, though! Please leave a review, I love reading every single one of them. The next chapter will be up soon, only gotta do some re-writing here and there, but it's almost ready for upload. Until then, Shaeme.


	15. Surrender or Die

Collier opened the hatch of the tank, and got himself to the ground, immediately being followed by Agnes, and later by the rest of his crew.

'We should get ourselves a little break and then we'll get to that crossroad.' He looked over to Agnes, who'd found eye contact with Binkowski. She walked towards him.

'Binkowski, how did you get here?' she asked. 'We fixed the driving problem prematurely, but it was only a temporary solution. We'll have to stay here and wait for some parts we need.' he replied.

'Agnes!' she suddenly heard Collier's voice. 'Where's your machine-gun? We don't know what's still hiding in here.' he said while approaching. She now noticed that everyone actually was still carrying weapons.

'I got my handgun.' 'Do you _want_ to die?' Suddenly, there were some loud blasts, and people started falling to the ground. Immediately, Don and Binkowski had their machine-guns ready, shielding Agnes, even though nothing was coming their way yet.

'They're in that sewer!' Don heard the sound coming from behind him. Agnes. He immediately started shooting, taking out the gunner within mere seconds.

'Fucking hell.' he muttered, and then he turned around to Agnes. 'When are you ever going to follow my fucking orders?'

'I'm alive aren't I?' Wardaddy sighed in frustration, then all of them suddenly heard some upheaval amongst the men. Something they'd heard before.

'Surrender? It's a bit late for that, innit? You shot two of our guys.' There had been two Krauts in the sewer, and the shooter had been taken out, now the other was coming out trying to surrender.

'Bitte.' the Kraut said. 'Ich will mich Erbrechen.'

'Oh come on. Shoot the guy. Put him out of his misery.' As soon at Collier heard someone say that, he intervened.

'Hold on! Nobody shoots that man unless I say so.' The Baker Company soldiers had formed a crowd around the German soldier, and Wardaddy pushed through to stand in the middle of it. Agnes pushed through to be able to see everything he was about to do.

Collier looked at the group of soldiers, and then his eye fell on Agnes.

'Agnes, come on up here.' She walked to the front. He didn't really speak to her. She was the first to speak, after they'd looked each other in the eye for a while and she already knew what he wanted her to do. She shook her head.

'I don't know why you're even trying to make me do this.' she whispered. 'Kill him.' Collier spoke resolutely. 'No.' Don sighed for a second. 'I've waited way too long to properly teach you this lesson.' 'Some lessons are not meant for everybody, Don.'

'Why are you here, Agnes? Why? Tell me.' 'Shall I tell you something, Don? I was trained a fucking nurse, not a soldier. I was trained to nurse the wounded -even Krauts-, not kill those that surrendered. And yes, I was taught how to shoot a sniper rifle, but I wasn't trained a soldier. Stop asking me why I'm here. You think you know so much more than me, but I've been around since Africa too.' Collier found everything she said to ridiculous to directly respond to that.

'You will do as I tell you, and you will shoot that son of a bitch.' 'I will not.'

'He was trying to kill you, Agnes. What are you going to do about it?' 'Go fuck yourself.' she hissed at him, and that was the straw that broke the camel's back. He slapped her right across the face with the back of his hand, with enough force to punch her to the ground, but she remained upstanding, blew some hair out of her face, and looked at him again.

'I don't care how long it'll take you to do it.' he said. 'Then you can wait a long time, because I'm not going to do it.' 'Yes you are.'

'You're not going to win, Don. This isn't going to be one of those times.' 'I've heard you say that before. You know what happened afterwards?' 'Yes. You beat me.' 'After making you follow orders.' Agnes straightened her back.

'You won't win this time.' 'Don't you fucking test me, Agnes.' 'I would rather have you beat the shit out of me right here, right now, than to shoot somebody who means no threat to me whatsoever. Not anymore.'

'No you wouldn't. I'm about to fucking go there, Agnes. Take my fucking gun. Or do you want to snipe him down?' Everybody laughed a bit, making her feel ridiculed. She breathed out heavily while remaining focussed on Collier's face. 'You won't win this time. You might be able to make Norman shoot someone, but you won't make me.' He'd properly had enough right now, and grabbed her by her hair and neck, bringing her down to her knees. It hurt when they hit the stone pavement.

'Shoot him. Do it.' He put the gun into her hand, while kneeling down behind her and placing his foot next to her so she couldn't escape. His left hand was around her stomach, and his right hand around her right hand holding the gun, while she tried to pull herself loose.

'Stop!' she gasped. 'Oh, no, no, no. You will do as I tell you.' As soon as his grip around her right hand loosened, she saw the chance to throw the gun away, a few meters out onto the street, though she knew that was only a temporary solution.

'God damn you, woman.' 'Get your hands off of me!' she grunted, but of course he didn't listen. He was her fucking superior, for god's sake.

'Don't you fucking touch me!' she whimpered loudly. 'I've had about fucking enough with you, young lady.' He moved his right hand and put it over her mouth, which caused her to whimper in panic. His left hand moved down a bit, to her lower abdomen -or her womb, rather- so he would gain more control over her struggling body. 'Ssh. Struggling won't help you. You know you're not stronger than me. Ssh. It's alright.' His voice legitimately calmed her down, as she realised he was right. She would never be stronger than him, no matter how hard she would try.

'Attagirl.' As soon as she stopped struggling, Collier's left hand reached for Agnes' handgun, placing his right arm across her chest to keep at least a little grip. But when he took it out of her holster, she saw the chance to escape, as his right arm only wasn't enough to hold her back. She got up and walked away from him a few paces, gasping for air, there she came to a halt. They were literally surrounded by Baker Company soldiers, that had all been watching them, and that -of course- were on Wardaddy's side on this. There was no way to walk away now.

Collier got off his knees, and while he walked at her, he shot the Kraut through the head. He grabbed her shoulder, turned her around, and grabbed her face.

'This ain't over yet.' he muttered so only she and maybe a few soldiers near them would hear. 'Face it, Wardaddy. You lost this round.' He slapped her again, but with less force, and not the back of his hand.

'What did you call me?' He slapped her again as she didn't reply. 'What's my name?' 'Don.' she replied. Another slap. 'You will call me by my name. What's my name?' He grabbed her chin, but carefully. 'Collier.' she muttered. 'What was that?' 'Sergeant Collier, sir.'

'You're goddamn right. Now get your ass back to the tank.' The moment that she walked away, pushing her path through Baker Company, and Collier sighed again as he picked up his own gun, was the moment that Norman could finally breathe again. He couldn't believe what he'd just seen.

Wardaddy had seemed so frightening that Norman would already have shat his pants thrice had he been in Agnes' place. Well, he actually had been before, but not in this way. Not this personal, or intense. Not as a woman…

While Agnes had almost reached the Fury, Binkowski was suddenly in her way.

'Angel, wait.' 'I can't believe you let him do that.' she said while not looking at him and trying to get past him, but he wouldn't let her through.

'Agnes, you know he was in the right.' 'I don't care whether he was in the right or not. He went way too far.' She finally came to a halt by herself. 'Would it comfort you if I'd tell you I'd done the same fucking thing?' he asked, partly making her realise how ridiculous she was acting.

'I feel like saying that you men are all the same.' she spoke while finally looking at him. Binkowski looked at her indignantly, almost smiling in disbelief. 'Oh, so you think that's what this is about, huh? You think he cares that you're a woman? You think that's why he did it?'

'No! But you are all just so convinced to think that you're always right!' She almost couldn't keep herself together. 'Well, guess what, Agnes? Maybe you should consider that we are for once. This is a warzone, not a playground. If you don't listen to us, you're going to get us killed.'

'The man surrendered!' 'Stop it, Agnes. I know you're not that stupid. You know that's not what this is about. It's about following orders.'

'Have you ever heard the saying: _war is where the young and stupid are tricked into killing each other by the old and bitter_?' Binkowski sighed. 'You're the one who's crossing the line here, Agnes. Not him.' That was the last he said before he walked away, and Agnes proceeded her walk towards Fury.

She was pleased to see that Don didn't decide on joining his crew next to the Fury to have a little break, but to join the group of sergeants -his only friend left being Binkowski-. Agnes didn't speak to any of them. Not Norman, not Grady, not Gordo, and not even Bible.

'Did you hear all that?' Binkowski asked while he watched Don sit down. Collier nodded. 'I don't know what's going on with her, man. I'm sorry.' Binkowski said, but Don had already calmed down.

'Desperate needs lead to desperate deeds.' he said. 'Just because you were rough on her?' Wardaddy sighed.

'It goes deeper than that, Binkowski. She's not like that at all.' 'Then she needs to learn how to part orders and _'things that go deeper than that'_.' Collier grinned because of that.

'One lesson at a time for her.'

The two of them were silent for a moment, and then Binkowski sighed. 'You should mount up and get to that crossroad.' he said, and Collier nodded, taking his cigarette out of his mouth.

'Guess I'll have to talk to her first.' he said while blowing out some smoke, and Binkowski seemed to agree with that in silence while they both got off their seats.

Wardaddy found Agnes still sitting next to the rest of his crew in silence.

'We mount up in five. Agnes, come on, get inside. I wanna talk to you.' Agnes first stared at him in silence, then slowly got up and followed him on top of the tank. He opened the hatch for her, so she could go inside first. _Oh, now he did know how to be polite_. She climbed down a little further, and went to sit in Grady's seat. That was kind of more remote from the rest of the tank. It smelled of him, but Agnes hadn't quite figured out whether that was a good thing or not. She sat down to face Collier, he sat down in his own seat, a little higher up.

'Listen, I know what you've done for us. I know you chose in our favour when you chose to stay with us, but that choice comes with responsibilities and consequences.' He got another cigarette out of his breast pocket and lit it.

'Don't try to lecture me about responsibilities and consequences. I came here to get some of them off my shoulders.' she replied.

'Right. You switched positions, but that cannot mean that you don't know how to follow orders, can it?' 'I don't know. Everybody just left me to what I was doing back then.' Her eyes became a bit watery but not in a way of almost crying. 'They trusted me. And I failed them.'

'It's not like that, Agnes. Did Davis fail his crew? Did Peterson fail his crew? No. It was all an unfortunate amount of bad luck. _We _have been lucky 'til now. But you gotta know your place. Who are you?'

'Corporal Agnes Towler.' Collier looked at her as if she was being immature, but he had a slight grin on his face. 'You're not in the British army anymore, love. Still it wouldn't matter. Who am I?'

'Sergeant Don Collier.' she muttered. 'Right. Do I need to show you a military rank chart?' 'No.' She didn't whisper intentionally, but accidentally because she felt belittled. 'You _need _to learn how to follow orders.' 'I do follow orders.' 'Only the ones you want to follow.' She didn't reply to that.

'I am your sergeant. I can _help _you follow orders, but I just did that, did you like it?' 'No.'

'Right. So just do as you're told. I've been in this world a lot longer than you, Agnes, including this war. How old are you again?'

'Twenty-two.' She didn't want to look at him. She felt ashamed.

'There you go, twice as long. All right. Let's move out. Are we good?' he asked, while making ready to get up and outside again, but her voice interrupted him.

'I just don't get it.' she muttered with an unstable voice. 'One instant you're so nice to me, and the other… The other I feel like you're about to rape and murder me.'

'Oh please.' he replied. 'And I know you wouldn't ever do that, but that doesn't mean you couldn't come close to making someone else feel like you would.' They looked each other in the eye, Collier with a bit of sorriness, and Agnes with a bit of sadness.

'I don't know, Agnes.' he said as he took a whiff of his cigarette. There was a brief moment of silence.

'Listen. I'm sorry about what I did, okay? I guess I shouldn't have been _that_ rough on you, but-' 'I guess you shouldn't have been.' Agnes immediately repeated, slightly provoking him to become hostile again, but it didn't work. Wardaddy sighed. 'There is a limit to my patience, girl.' She didn't reply to that.

'Why is this so easy to Grady? Making it up to you?' he asked. Agnes sniffed.

'The greater the trust, the deeper a cut can carve, the harder it becomes to mend, Sergeant Collier.'

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**A/N: **Hello again! I'm extremely curious to hear what you guys think of this chapter. I've really enjoyed writing this one, and I'm curious to hear which side you're on. Collier's or Agnes'? Please leave a review, and until next time!


	16. Man Gone

Agnes had fallen silent. She'd been sitting inside, behind Norman and Gordo, and between Bible and Grady on the ground. She had been sitting there the entire ride, but she hadn't been silent the entire time. She'd been smoking a cigarette and had been singing a song that sounded beautiful but the lyrics were quite morbid. Something about everything in the world turning around and upside-down. Summer under the sea, fish with wings and birds with scales, dry rain and snow that falls up... Norman didn't know the song so he couldn't sing along, but he probably also wouldn't have sang if he'd actually known the song. He was shy and didn't want to interrupt her beautiful voice, even though she hadn't really been trying to sing well, she had been singing softly and quietly. As if she was only singing for herself. She had been singing while Grady had smoked about three cigarettes –there was nothing to do-, Boyd had been reading his bible, Gordo had been driving the tank and Norman had just been staring out in front of him.

Though now Agnes was silent. She had fallen asleep, with her head in Bible's lap. He was still reading, wearing his glasses, not minding Agnes, but sometimes letting his left hand fall down to her head and stroking her hair for a while, only to bring it back up again later, and after a while drop it down again.

Norman didn't need to guess or wonder why Agnes was down here, and not on top of the tank or even near Sergeant Collier. He did hope they would make up soon because he didn't like the tenseness of this all. She must've been really mad at him, considering Grady took only a few minutes to make it up to her for revealing a secret. Thinking about that, it surprised Norman. Agnes and Collier seemed to be much closer with each other than she was with Grady, yet she refused his apology for being a little hard on her, if, he had given her one in the first place. Norman reckoned he had…

His thoughts were immediately interrupted by a loud blast, right next to him. The tank shook for a bit and then came to a halt.

'Shit! Is that another tiger?!' 'Tiger!' Grady and Bible were already panicking while Agnes had brutally been woken up and stared out in front of her with a tired and confused look, and hair in front of her face. She blinked a few times and stroke the hair out of her face, only to get up then.

'What was that? A tiger?' she asked while she climbed back up, following Bible and Grady.

'It's a mine. Settle down it's a mine. We hit a mine, is all.' Wardaddy called out. Everybody sighed in relief. 'Everybody off!' Boyd shouted, while Grady already jumped off of the tank, immediately being followed by Bible and later Agnes. A few moments later, Gordo and Norman got off as well. They had already reached the crossroad. Frankly, they were in the exact middle of it.

'Ah shit.' Grady muttered. 'How bad is it?' Collier asked. 'It's broke as fuck. Busted a bogie too.' 'Can you fix it?' Grady sighed. 'Yeah, why the hell not?' Gordo started muttering something in Spanish while Norman awkwardly looked at Grady studying the tires, and Bible granted Agnes a cigarette from his pack and lit it for her before lighting his own.

'All right, Coon-ass. You check out that building.' Wardaddy pointed at the abandoned wooden building that looked like some sort of barn, after which he looked around to observe their surroundings for a minute. He only found Agnes doing something that didn't please him. Chatting with Bible, doing nothing.

'Agnes, what the hell are you doing?' She looked at him from below, with Bible following her glance. She looked at him for one second, but then averted her head again, as if she could just not bear to look at him, and Wardaddy sighed.

'Agnes, I want you to go get your rifle and bullets and get yourself up that hill. The Krauts might send some patrollers, I want you go take them out from up there.' he commanded as he pointed up at the hill that lay opposite of the building. It wasn't a steep hill, but it was vast and had a line of trees on the top of it. Agnes snorted. 'Roger.' She climbed up the tank again and got her rifle and a belt full of bullets within mere seconds, still holding the cigarette between her lips.

'Up the hill.' Collier repeated as she climbed past him and off the tank. 'I heard you.' she said, mumbling because her lips were struggling to hold the cigarette. The hostility was great between the two of them, so hostile that Norman was virtually about to cringe. Agnes walked past him and Gordo, not saying anything as she progressed further up the hill, every now and then tipping the ashes off of her cigarette.

'Norman. I want you to move your way down that road to see if anything's coming our way that's bigger than a patroller. Hide in those bushes next to the tracks. Keep yourself hidden.' With his fingers he pointed out the way he was supposed to go and where to hide after that. Norman nodded as he looked at Grady entering the building. Then he looked toward the hill. Agnes seemed to have vanished into thin air, but she had probably already hid herself at the root of that line of trees. He faced Wardaddy.

'Can I take my canteen?' he asked. Collier sighed for a second. 'Yeah you can take your canteen.' Norman fetched it quickly and then went on his way. He walked maybe 300 metres away from the Fury, and then hid himself in the bushes, where he finally found a moment of peaceful quietness. He sat down, leaning against a tree, and tore the wrapping of off his rations. Some sort of energy-filled crackers. They didn't have much taste, but the texture of them was good and Norman felt how they instantly filled up his belly. He sighed as he chewed his food, and it was only after he had a few sips of the water from his canteen when he heard the noise. First he thought it was the wind, shortly after that he was quite sure it was singing. And not just the singing of one person. This would have to be the singing of hundreds of people.

He listened carefully and started to distinguish words, but he couldn't understand them. They weren't English.

Oh lord.

He stood up and looked through the maze of bushes and tree branches he had hid himself behind, and then he saw them, probably one mile out, across the field that the road was built around. An entire Kraut Battalion. That was when he knew he had to get out of there.

Norman ran as fast as he could, and arrived back at the crossroads within probably half a minute. He called out for his sergeant.

'Hey! Hey!' Wardaddy let himself slide off the tank, a cigarette resting between his lips.

'Good evening, Norman. Why aren't you at your post?' he asked. Norman almost bumped into him so he told him to slow down. 'They're… they're coming right now.' 'Who's coming?' Collier asked.

'The Germans!' Norman cried out frustrated. 'How many?' 'Too many… too many to count.' Norman replied. 'How many?!' Wardaddy repeated. 'Uh… uh… about two… two maybe three hundred. They got vehicles too, and horses.' 'Tanks?' Wardaddy asked. 'No. No tanks.'

'A bunch of Krauts looking to surrender, that's all.' Grady stated. 'No. No, no, no. They were marching, they were singing. They sounded like they wanted to fight.' Norman pleaded, while Wardaddy stared into the direction Norman had come from.

With a soft breeze of wind from that direction, the sound came along. Singing.

'Wait, do you hear that?' Boyd asked Wardaddy. 'It's a goddamn SS Battalion.' Wardaddy spoke. 'Bullshit.' Gordo muttered, and he followed Collier's glare. 'Jesus Christ…' Grady whispered as he dropped his tools to the ground. Boyd was next to speak.

'Grady, my gun.' 'Yeah.' 'Norman, you got your weapon?' Boyd asked, while Gordo and Grady started packing their stuff. 'Shit. Let's just get our shit alright?' Grady suggested. He didn't get a reaction from Collier. 'Look, it's about to be dark. Just get on up outta here, huh? Let 'em pass on through.' 'We go up there, we find Agnes, we stay there.' Boyd added. 'Norman go get your shit. Go get your pack.' Grady ordered while Wardaddy turned himself around to face his men.

'We ain't never run before, I ain't running now.' he said while Bible approached him. 'What is that?' 'We're gonna fight it out.' Wardaddy said. 'We can't!' Boyd pleaded. 'I'm gonna hold this crossroad.' 'What do you mean we gotta hold this crossroad? The tanks busted. We're one man short.' Grady said. 'The tank's fucking busted Top, what are you gonna do about Agnes?'

'Yeah you said that.' Wardaddy replied as he climbed the Fury. 'What are you doing? What do you wanna do? You wanna stay?' Boyd asked. 'I'm gonna hold this crossroad.'

'You wanna hold up and SS Batallion?' 'No it's not what I want but it's what we're doing. Get into your fighting position! Mount up!' 'Get into our fighting position? We ain't got tank to fucking fight!' Grady protested. 'We got a canon!' Collier shouted. 'That don't make no sense, Top!' Gordo cried and Grady as well as Norman started protesting, but Bible had had enough.

'Stoooop!' he shouted. 'What are you doing?' he asked Wardaddy, who was making the .50 ready for the fight. He paused and sighed for a second while he seemed to overthink. Then he spoke.

'Get outta here. Get to that treeline. Find your girl.' he replied, but then he continued loading the .50, stating that he wasn't leaving. 'Boys, take care of yourselves, get to that treeline. I'm sure Angel found herself a safe place, you go find her.' His crew didn't move a muscle. He kneeled down to get a little closer to them.

'It's alright.' 'Hmm. It's alright.' Bible repeated. 'This is my home.' Wardaddy explained. Norman didn't accept it. He would not accept Sergeant Collier taking on the fight on his own. He climbed his way to him. 'I'm staying here with you.' 'Alright. I'll need you to load. Boys, get on. It's alright.' Bible didn't accept it either.

'Grady. Come on.' he said, as he climbed his way up as well. 'We're gonna stay.' 'Uhu.' Gordo agreed as he followed him. Grady hesitated, but eventually followed the two of them up.'

'We got six against three hundred, Top. What is your plan?' Gordo asked. 'Five.' Collier corrected. 'What, no. What about Aggie?' Wardaddy looked at Bible in silence for a moment.

'Listen. We both know that Angel is one of the bravest women alive. But she's not a fool.'

'She will not abandon us.' Bible hammered.

'If she knew we're taking on the fight…' Grady muttered. The five of them looked at the hills and the tree line she was probably hiding in, but neither of them could see her.

'Do you think she can see us?' Norman asked, breaking the silence. 'If she's still out there, yes. Chances are she moved as soon as she saw the Krauts marching our way. I don't know.'

'Come on, Don. She wouldn't…' Bible's voice was interrupted by his hesitating breath.

'She would, Boyd. This is suicide, she doesn't want to die.'

'But if she'd see us looking her way wouldn't she have shown a sign already?' Norman suggested. 'She's got a flashlight.' he added. Wardaddy sighed deeply and looked at Boyd, who still didn't seem to want to accept it.

'It could've broke…' Bible spoke but Collier interrupted him. 'She's gone, Boyd. She ain't coming back. She almost killed herself saving us the first time, she ain't gonna do it again. You know what she was like after. She's gone. Now you're gonna accept that, and you're gonna keep yourself alive.' Bible swallowed as one, single tear escaped his eye.

'So what is your plan?'

* * *

**A/N: **Hey guys! The story is not over by long! I know it's been months, and I'm sorry I've kept you waiting, but I have just been so busy and haven't found the time and effort to write. Anyways, here's the new chapter! I very much hope you like it. I can't make promises on when the next chapter will be up, and to be honest I don't think it will be up any time soon. But hey, you never know.

I just wanted you to know that I have not stopped writing, and that I have not quitted this story. Everything's just taking a while longer than expected.

Please leave a review, and until next time!

Shaeme


	17. Drink Up, Hearties

They –or that meaning Wardaddy- had thought up the perfect plan. Or at least the best plan they could come up with. The best plan for survival, or at least of stopping the SS-battalion. They had made their busted Sherman look like a defeated Sherman. The old field hospital they had stranded next to still had some dead Krauts inside of it, which they had used to make the scene look like a battle had taken place. One Kraut had been set ablaze and laid over the front of the tank, and two others had been spread across the crossroads.

Still, there had been no sign of Agnes. No sign of recognition, no sign of life at all. Norman had noticed how Bible had continuously been staring up that hill any time he'd had the chance in between the dragging-across-Krauts. It seemed both Norman and Gordo, as well as Grady (slightly) had completely given up on the chance of a sign of life from Agnes. Norman wasn't sure whether Gordo and Grady genuinely believed that Agnes would abandon them for her own sake, but he was quite certain that they (as well as Norman himself) had given up on the thought of her, just to fully commit themselves into the coming fight instead of still somewhat relying on an uncertain factor.

He had no clue about Collier's thoughts. Although, possibly a slight clue. Norman had noticed how Collier had paid two glances to the treeline up on that hill. No more. Which was a significant amount of glances less than Bible, but still indicated a small sparkle of hope.

They were now inside their tank. All five of them, finishing their ammo count, and just as they were done, Collier passed Bible a cigarette. And Norman noticed how Bible kept it in his mouth for a second, unlit, staring into thin air with his sheeny eyes. Norman knew he was thinking of Agnes. He just knew. Then Wardaddy got out a bottle of booze. It seemed like he had kept it hidden all this time.

Bible removed the cigarette from between his lips.

'We promised Aggie we wouldn't drink it without her.' he said softly. Don grinned slightly.

'Fuck that. We might as well get a little tight. We won't be around for the hangover.' He took the cork from the neck of the bottle, looked at the label for a second took two large gulps of the drink. After that, he groaned.

'Ah, that's better than good.' Bible looked at Don's face for a second and then slapped Don's arm. 'Give it here.' Collier seemed to ignore him, took another sip, and studied the label again. 'Give it here.' Boyd repeated. He finally got what he wanted.

'What're you gonna do with that?' Grady asked. Bible looked at him sternly. 'I'm gonna drink it.' he spoke loudly. It was clear. He'd given up on Agnes, and he seemed mad about it. Mad at himself for giving up on her.

'I know you hate me preaching. But what we're doing here is a righteous act gentlemen. Even without Agnes. You hear me Gordo?' He was quiet for a second, but then started talking again.

'There's this bible verse I think about sometimes. Many times. It goes: and then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?'' He cleared his throat as he found difficulty keeping back some tears, but then he continued. 'And… I said… 'Here am _I_. Send _me_.'' After being done talking, he put the cigarette back into his mouth.

'Send me…' Norman quietly whispered in repeat as he took the words up into his mind.

'Book of Isaiah, chapter 6.' Collier said, and Bible suddenly broke out in laughter. 'Yeah…' he replied. 'Yeah, Don. Exactly right. Oh wow… You're something.' Collier grinned as he got out a cigarette for himself and lit it with Bible's zippo. The bottle was passed through to Grady, Gordo and then Norman, who also took a sip. He moaned in disgust directly after that though, because his sip had been more of a gulp. Grady chuckled.

'Goddamn, son. You're a fighting, fucking, drinking machine ain't you?'

'Machine, that's it. That's his war name.' Don spoke. 'That's perfect.' Bible replied. '

'I christen thee Machine!' Collier shouted while Gordo and Grady starting shouting the name as well and Bible couldn't help but laugh and go along. Collier spoke as they settled down again.

'I love it in here…' he said. 'I do. It feels incomplete but I love it in here.' He took a whiff of his cigarette as Norman realised how Collier was referring to the absence of Agnes for one last time. 'Best job I ever had.' he then stated. 'Best fucking job…' Grady repeated.

'Yeah.' Bible said while smiling, staring into thin air. His smile disappeared gradually, thinking of Agnes' absence for one last time.

Then Norman's eye fell on his binoculars, and he noticed how the Krauts had arrived at the scene. 'They're coming.' he spoke, and that was the sign for everyone to get into their fighting positions.

'No one makes a move unless I say.' Collier commanded as he had a look through his own binoculars. 'Come on you cocksuckers… Walk straight on in.' he muttered.

The SS-officer shouted some commands and the few dozen men of the battalion split themselves up, surrounding the tank. Norman got ready and already pointed his Thompson upward towards the hatch above him. He looked back, noticing Collier getting a grenade ready, and a single tear shedding down Bible's face. Fear. Just the same as Norman felt it. The Krauts approached the tank.

'Almost…' Wardaddy muttered. The first started climbing the Fury. They could all hear them shuffling around above them. Then the hatch above Norman opened, and he waited to see the Krauts shocked face before starting to shoot.

'Now!' Wardaddy shouted. He, Grady and Gordo started throwing out grenades, hitting quite a lot of the Krauts that were near the tank, the rest of them started spreading in fear. Grady loaded Bible's gun.

'Clear!' 'On the way!' The first was launched directly at the heart of the battalion that had been marching in a straight line seconds before. 'Clear! On the way!' They hit the only truck that the Krauts had, and it was lit on total fire. Total chaos had emerged among the Krauts while they were being bombed and shot at. This was not what they had expected, and that was exactly what the Fury's crew's intention had been. To take them by surprise, and they seemed to have succeeded. Collier commanded his crew.

'They're running, they're running! First left!' Norman followed them with his gun while muttering something about _fucking Nazi's_.

'Bow-gunner, squirt those assholes running for that mill. Cut those fuckers down! Loader, give us some Willy Pete. Put it in that building, it's full of fucking Krauts.' 'Clear!' 'Fire!' 'On the way.' A smoke-bomb shell exploded right inside the building. 'Give me another, that was beautiful.' Collier spoke. They shot another, which totally eradicated the Krauts inside that building, and then Collier ordered Norman to take out the few that had managed to flee the building. Then Collier noticed how some of the Krauts had installed some machineguns, and had Bible take them out with the canon.

Collier's commands were rushing through like crazy, while they continued taking out Krauts by the dozen, operating the canon and the guns at the same time. It had gotten much darker, it was actually pitch black, and all the light they had was coming from the field hospital that they had completely lit up with their canon, and the smoke that was reflecting the light as well. Then, Norman suddenly ran out of bullets through firing.

'I'm out! I need a new can!' 'We out!' Grady replied. Out of bow-gun bullets… 'Fuck…' Bible muttered. 'We got a case rupture.' he said as he had a look at his canon.

'We need more boxes of ammo!' Gordo shouted from below. 'We got the .50 on the roof.' Bible said. 'We got more ammo outside. I'm gonna lay down some smokes.' Don said and he grabbed some smoke grenades. 'Gordo, Norman, on my signal. Pop outside and give me some cover fire. Bible, get ready to snatch that thirty.' 'Roger.'

Collier opened the hatch whole, and threw out some grenades. They covered the entire tank in a fog. Then Gordo and Norman opened their hatches as well.

'Go!' They popped outside and readied their guns, while Bible and Collier got out on the roof. Though then, they realised something dreadful.

'What…?' Bible muttered. 'Fuck.' Collier added. It was gone. All the boxes of ammo that they had before were gone. Taken by the Krauts, prior to them finding out that the crew was still alive and inside. They had taken it all, and looking at the .50, Don discovered it had been destroyed by the gunfire.

'Fuck!' Bible shouted. Then the Krauts started emerging through the smoke. Gordo and Norman took out the first ones.

'Bible, get back inside!' Don shouted stressfully. His machine gun was all that remained to him now. 'Button up!' A few Krauts attempted climbing the tank, but were stopped by Collier's gun. Though when he attempted to take another one, he was out of ammo. He simply threw his gun at the man, which threw him off the tank. He used his handgun to take out one that he emerged to him from his left. The last guy on the tank shot Collier in his upper arm, and then approached further. Unable to operate his gun because of the impact, Collier did not manage to keep the Kraut on a safe distance, and he got hit with some sort of metal bar, as it seemed the Kraut had run out of ammo as well.

Then he suddenly got hold of his knife and managed to stab him in his leg and pull him off his feet, his torso coming through the hatch and inside the tank.

'Oh fuck – fuck – fuck – fuck – fuck – fuck!' Bible started yelling as he caught sight of the Kraut and he raised his handgun, but didn't shoot as he was afraid to hit his sergeant. Don struggled with the Kraut for a few seconds, but then managed to plant his knife deep into the man's throat and throw him outside again.

'Top, where's the ammo?' Norman immediately asked, and Collier closed the hatch.

'We ain't got no ammo.' he muttered. 'What?' Gordo spat out. 'The ammo was taken, we're all out.' He sighed for a second as silence hit them. 'We're all out. It's doomed.'

'No, what? It can't be…' Norman muttered. 'We are, son. It's done.' Collier pleaded as he sat down into his seat. Don snorted, and then got up to close his hatch off with some sort of lock.

'Close your hatch.' he said to Norman. Norman looked at him with a questioning face. 'Everybody close your hatch! Lock it up! It's got a lock on the inside. We might be doomed but we ain't gonna make it easy for them.' Gordo locked his hatch as well, and then showed Norman how to do it. After they were done, they all just… sat down. They sat down in silence, as they listened to the sounds outside.

Don caught eye contact with Bible, who looked immensely scared. 'If a man loves the world, the love of the father is not in him.' he muttered, as soothing words to the preacher. They seemed to work. Bible gave him a grieving smile. 'For all that's in the world,' Don continued. 'Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes…' he paused, emphasizing the words. '… pride of life. It's not of the father. It's of the world.' They had some silent eye contact.

'He who loves the Lord will live forever.' Bible replied. 'Forever.' Collier repeated. Bible's eyes fell on Don's flesh wound. 'Let me patch you up.' he said, but Don stopped him. 'We're gonna die, what good is it?'

'Sergeant?' Norman suddenly dared to raise his voice. 'Yes, son?' 'I'm scared.' There was more silence for a second, and then the Krauts started randomly firing bullets at the tank's armour. It seemed they had run out of legitimate measures to break through the tank. It did make one hell of a racket.

'I'm scared too.' Grady shouted over the sound of the bullets. 'Me too.' Gordo agreed.

'We're all scared.' Collier said. 'But it's gonna be over soon.' He found eye contact with Bible first, then with Grady, Gordo, and then Norman. He sighed and smiled slightly.

'See you on the other side.' The sound of bullets stopped for a second, probably because the Krauts were reloading their guns, and there were a few seconds of silence.

But then, they all heard another bullet being fired. A sole bullet. This wasn't just any bullet, they all recognised from the sound. It was a sniper.

* * *

**A/N:** Aaaaand here I am again! I hope you liked the chapter! I can't be sure when the next chapter will be up, I've just been very busy this past time, I hope it will be up soon, but I'm afraid I can't make promises. As you may have noticed though, this is kind of where the movie originally ends (adapted to fit this story), but that doesn't mean that this story is over! There's a lot more coming, I just can't make promises on when, hehe. Again, I would like to hear what you think of the chapter! Leave me a review :)


	18. Grazed Eye

Looks were exchanged throughout the tank. Looks of fear, mostly. But suddenly, a touch of hope had come upon them by the sound of that sole bullet.

'They have a sniper?' Norman dared ask, and he noticed how Bible's eyes stayed focussed on Collier's, his mouth in a stiff, straight line. There were a few seconds of silence, and then they heard another shot.

'It's not aimed at us.' Grady spoke, judging from the lack of sound of a bullet colliding with their Sherman. Another few seconds of silence while everyone held their breaths. And then another shot, and the screeching of a Kraut that got hit. Bible sighed as water hit his eyes, and Don released his breath.

'It's Agnes.' he spoke. Norman's eyes went bigger and he found eye contact with Gordo.

'Agnes?' Norman muttered. There was silence inside the tank, but the shots outside started becoming more and spread over a shorter range of time. Bible suddenly quietly burst out in tears, but Norman immediately noticed how Boyd was smiling. They were tears of joy.

Agnes was still alive. Agnes was still there. She was still with them. She had not abandoned them. She had just made a bloody smart choice to stay at a distance so she would not be noticed, and had waited just long enough to be their last resort.

'How many bullets does she have?' Grady asked. Collier immediately, quite stressfully, started searching through Agnes' stuff, placed in a tiny cabinet. Shoving aside some photographs and a lucky charm, he found one pack of sniper rifle bullets. That meant she had taken one other pack, if he wasn't mistaken. Collier sighed.

'Seventy-five bullets. Maybe seventy-six.' Norman swallowed. That was quite a lot, but there had to be at least eighty-something Krauts left outside. She'd have to hit every single one of them at first try with one bullet, otherwise she would not be able to take out all of them. Bible paused his crying bliss and sniffed.

'Is there anything we can do to help her? We must have some grenades left, or…' 'We gotta do the same she did.' Wardaddy immediately pleaded. 'It's her turn now, we need to save our resources until she's absolutely out of hers. Leave her be for a couple minutes.' Bible took that up and silently agreed, along with the rest of them, while Norman finally put himself up to look through his binoculars, up the hill where Agnes was supposed to be firing from. The shots were still continuously going on, she seemed to be fully concentrated, taking out one Kraut per shot. The Krauts themselves, however, were swarming around the place not knowing what to do, dropping dead by the bushes. Soldiers asking their superiors what they were to do, superiors contemplating on what the hell to do by themselves. There was just utter chaos.

At one point they started firing back at her, but because it was dark and she was at a far distance, they had no idea where she was. The shooting continued for over 2 minutes, and the bullets seemed to be fired at every three-something seconds. Then suddenly all of the tank-crew looked at each other, when the shooting stopped.

'Is it over?' Norman asked. Collier's mind seemed to race with theories, trying to calculate out Agnes' shots and bullets, but Grady spoke first. 'It can't be. That weren't 75 bullets by long.'

'He's right.' Don spoke, done with his calculations. 'What if she got hit?' Bible asked, stressed. Don scoffed. 'From that far away?' he asked, actually mocking the idea. 'Um… maybe she did.' Norman muttered, peeking through his binoculars. What he saw on the ground shocked him. And it also shocked him that he had been able to see it. He felt terror and pride at the same time.

'They have a sniper too.' The man was lying on the ground, a few meters out in front of the tank, and was aiming at the hilltop: Agnes' hideout. 'You have got to be shitting me.' Collier muttered, grabbing his own binoculars and looking outside. He was quiet for a second, and then startled the shit out of Norman with his sudden shouting. 'Shoot him dead! Fucker!'

'We can't, Top! We're out of ammo.' 'He is going to kill her! Get them grenades out.' Don started rummaging through the resources they still had left, finally grabbing a grenade. 'Keep inside.' he told his crew, and then he opened the hatch above his head, and stretched out, exposing his entire upper body outside the tank. 'Are you mad?!' he heard Boyd shouting after him, but he did not listen. He took the pin out of the grenade with his mouth, and threw it at the sniper in front of them, maybe 10 metres out. It exploded, but at the same time, Don got shot. This time in his shoulder, by a Kraut on the ground, that hadn't fallen victim to Agnes' sniper yet. He squirmed in pain, while getting back down and closing the hatch.

'What the fuck was that, Top?' Boyd sounded mad while he climbing to his sergeant, and he studied his wound, but he could barely see anything, due to the blood already swarming around Collier's shoulder.

'Fuck, Top!' he yelled. 'We need Agnes.' he continued, and as soon as he uttered her name, the sniper shots continued. 'Did you kill him?' Grady asked, and Collier nodded. 'That bastard exploded into a thousand pieces. Agnes is back on track.' He squirmed again, because Bible had started applying pressure to the bullet wound.

'We need Agnes…' Boyd muttered again. 'You're a medic!' Don protested. 'She's a head nurse! She's nearly a fucking surgeon. She'd know what to do.' 'Patch me up!' Collier's voice rose above Bible's and it shushed Boyd. He started taking out bandages and powder that would have to stop the bleeding. Agnes' shooting continued until she was definitely out of bullets, which took her about another 3 minutes.

'Alright, she's done.' 'How many we got left?' Grady asked. Bible started peeking through Collier's binoculars, and Norman and Gordo looked through their owns. 'I count 2 on this side.' 'Three more here.' Gordo and Norman spoke at the exact same time. Then through the silence, they suddenly heard Collier bursting out in an ill laughter.

'Oh damn.' he chuckled. 'She took out all of them.' Boyd started laughing as well. 'Alright boys, do you job.' Don then said, and they all got out a grenade.

'Grady, you first.' Grady opened his hatch, and because the Krauts left weren't far away, all he needed to do was remove the pin, and fling it outside without exposing himself. They first heard the Krauts yelling, and then a muffled explosion, and silence. Dead.

'Norman…' Collier instructed. Norman got his grenade, opened his hatch, and got out just a little bit. He was immediately being fired at, which put him in a state of shock, but the Krauts missed their shots. 'Throw it!' Gordo yelled, and Norman did. And they were dead. Norman sat back down, re-obtaining his normal breath. Boyd tended to his sergeant again, but there was nothing more he could do. It did not seem like Don would die. Norman noticed the first crack of dawn appearing.

'All right, boys. Go on outside. See what guns and ammo you can find, we don't know what's coming out for us.' Collier commanded, and so they did, and he followed them. Once they got out, the four of them started looking through the dead bodies for ammo, and Collier leaned himself against the exterior of the tank, having a look at his arm and shoulder as light was furthering over the horizon and he could now see properly. The bleeding had stopped, or was just going on for a little bit, but even though he didn't show, it hurt like hell. He looked at his wound, and looked around a bit to spot any other potential dangers, and then he saw her.

Agnes.

She was walking downhill, with her sniper rifle, vertically in her left hand, and her right hand swinging beside her body with every great, slow step she took. The look in her eyes was dead, but apart from that, the only important thing Collier noticed was that she was bleeding. The side of her face was bleeding. The boys noticed her soon enough, and then all watched her in silence as she walked downhill. She caught up to them within a good half-minute, and did not speak.

She dropped her rifle on the ground next to the tank, and kneeled down next to Collier, who had come to sat down, collapsed by fatigue and pain. She did not look at his face. She only studied his wounds. After maybe 10 seconds of looking at it, she finally spoke, while everyone else kept dead silent, watching her.

'Boyd. Bandages, and large tweezers.' Boyd nodded, went inside the tank for a couple of seconds, and came back with several packages of bandages and large tweezers. 'Take off your jacket.' Agnes commanded to Collier. He did not respond verbally, but sat up straight so she could help him do it, all while he looked at her face. Mad with confusion.

He flinched a little bit when she pulled his shirt off his skin (it had stuck to his skin because of the drying blood), and then she took out her butterfly knife and cut open the shoulder of his shirt. She got out her flask of water, and drained her sergeant's shoulder in it. After cleaning the wound, she held up her hand, and Bible handed her the tweezers. Collier's eyes changed once he saw the shining metal.

'What are you doing?' Without warning, Agnes shoved them inside the bullet wound, and started moving it around. Don screamed in pain. Agnes did not respond.

'You fucking cunt! Shit!' It was clear that Collier had no control over his words, so Agnes did not take them personal at all. 'Oh fuck! Stop! I'll kill you!' Agnes did not stop, until a few dozen seconds later, she pulled the tweezers back out, holding an entire bullet with them, and surprised it hadn't shattered. She washed away the fresh blood she had triggered to stream out again, and wrapped his shoulder up in bandages. Then she got up again.

'That wound in your arm can wait. We have to move.' 'Agnes.' Grady was the first to actually speak now. 'What?'

'You're bleeding.' She looked at him in silence for a second, and then looked at the ground. 'I'm fine. It's just a graze.' A bullet had grazed her face right next to her left eye, all the way down to height of her ear. And blood was streaming down her cheek.

'We need to move.'


	19. Damaged Ring

'It won't stop bleeding.' 'Plasma will generate itself, Bible, keep cleaning it up.' A soft chuckle, then a flinching gasp. 'Ouch.' 'Come on, Agnes, I thought you were braver than that.' 'Fuck you, Boyd.'

The voices across the room were extremely soft, but maybe that was also because Norman felt like he was fading away from fatigue. There was some muttering between Agnes and Boyd, while Boyd tried to stitch Agnes' bullet graze, following Agnes' close instructions on how to do it, since it was her face and they didn't want to fuck it up. Also, since Agnes knew more about medical care, being a nurse and all. Grady and Gordo were quietly playing a game of cards, at the table placed next to Norman's chair. Collier sat in an armchair, and it almost seemed like he had fallen asleep after he'd told Agnes that Bible should patch her up first, before Agnes would tend to him and his shoulder.

The crew had taken all of their stuff out of the tank, and had walked at least two miles until they had found a deserted house that they could spend the night in. The tank was pretty much destroyed. Perhaps they could find a way to repair it, only after they would find a way to move the tank to one of the army camps that held a repairer. For now, they just needed to get out of that place. They had nowhere else to go, but if they stayed, and another Kraut battalion would meet with them, that would have meant their deaths. They would be relatively safe in this house, and they finally got some rest.

It was quite a large house, and in fact looked like more of a villa or mansion. Its previous owners had deserted it, and everything had been left behind. Because of that, Agnes had managed to cook the men dinner with some canned beans and dried fruit that she had found in the kitchen. It had already gotten dark again, now, and the clock told Norman that it was almost 10 in the evening. He had taken the effort of actually rewinding it; it had given him a feeling of home and comfort. The rest had not even bothered to notice.

'There we go.' Boyd muttered. Norman looked up at the two of them. Agnes still sat in a wooden chair, and Boyd just got back on his feet, as he had been kneeled down next to her while stitching. The wound still looked very nasty, Norman thought, but better than before. He could not begin imagine how painful it had to be for Agnes. She seemed to be okay, though. She tried to feel the stitches, checking whether Bible had done his job well, but the wound still hurt too much for that, so she just smiled softly and thanked him.

She got up, and walked towards the armchair that held Wardaddy. All the quarrel and anger they had had towards each other before everything happened seemed to have disappeared. With Agnes, at least.

'Wake up, old man.' she said, smiling, as she kneeled down next to him, putting the aid kit on the ground beside her. Collier had, indeed, fallen asleep, but awoke startled by her voice and her hand on his arm. He immediately rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

'The fuck did you call me?' he muttered, not even trying to use any intonation whatsoever. Agnes giggled. 'Take off your shirt.' she commanded softly.

'I like where this is going.' Collier still sounded tired as he took great effort to take off his shirt, being troubled by the pain in his body and the tiredness that had before overthrown him.

'Look at that. Your shoulder is patching up.' The bullet wound in his shoulder had already started healing, even though it still looked irritated.

'I'm going to disinfect it and put a bandage around it, okay?' Before, she had shoved a pair of tweezers inside of his wound without warning, now she seemed to have softened down a bit, calmed down a bit. She had probably realised that holding a grudge to her Sergeant would not help her in any way to survive this war.

'Okay.' Collier muttered. He flinched when she put the rag drenched in alcohol to the wound, it must've stung like a bitch, but kept himself calm as she sterilised his entire shoulder, and felt relieved when she removed the rag and started wrapping him in bandages, going all the way around his shoulder and torso to keep it in place.

The bullet wound in his arm appeared less severe. It was necessary to remove some pieces of shell none the less, but they had reached far less deep, and Agnes was done quickly, disinfecting and wrapping the rest of him in bandages as well. She sighed in conclusion.

'Well. Let's get you to bed then, we'll discuss everything else in the morning.' She helped him on his feet, and left the rest of the crew behind while she helped him up the stairs.

Norman sat in silence with Grady, Gordo and Bible until Agnes returned after a few minutes.

'I've put him in the last room on the right of the upstairs corridor. Best not wake him.' she spoke to all of them, and they silently nodded. 'I think I shall go to bed as well.' She remained silent, but her glance rested on Bible, who was just taking off his round glasses. They made him look smart, but he looked better without them.

'Me too.' he said, once he caught Agnes' eye. 'All right. Good night Grady, Gordo, Norman.' As if she felt so lucky that she was still alive, and they were all still alive, and as if she felt so grateful that she was still with them, she went past all of them, giving them a kiss on either, forehead or cheek.

Gordo and Grady did not even bother to look up when she did so, but Norman noticed their genuine smiles after they had received her blessing touch. At least, that's what it felt like to Norman. Blessing. Agnes and Boyd were off, and before Norman could get up to find a bed as well, he was called out by Grady.

'Come on, Norman. Play one last game with us.' He was tired, but for once felt like he was truly part of this crew. If _Grady_ accepted and liked him, that had to mean something good. They played a game of Black Jack, which Norman had always been very good at back home, but he could not compare to Grady's skills in the game, unfortunately. Luckily they did not bet for money, otherwise Norman would have been broke by the end of the game. It took them at least 15 minutes to finish it.

'Alright then, that's enough. I'm tired as fuck.' Grady threw his part of the deck on the table, while Gordo got up as well. 'Night, Norman.' Norman was left behind at the table.

'Yeah…' he muttered. 'Good night.' He smiled to himself as Gordo and Grady fastened up the stairs, and considering what Norman could hear from upstairs, the two of them immediately found a room and went to bed.

He cleared the table, blew out all the candles they had lit, as the electricity no longer worked in this house, and then found his way upstairs as well. Most of the doors in the very long hallway were closed. He did not dare check whether they were occupied, so he walked along, further to the back. One door stood ajar, which probably meant that this room had not been claimed yet. Norman was just quick enough to stop immediately in his footsteps as he tried to enter the room, which made him stop before he could even touch the door. The room wasn't empty.

The doors to the balcony that connected all of the rooms on the left side together were open, with the sheer white curtains flowing free in the wind. The room was extremely dark, but Norman could make out some figures by the small amount of moonlight coming from outside.

Agnes and Boyd laid there, sheets only partly covering them, bodies intertwined, slightly, and very slowly moving, and their heavy breathing was enough for Norman to know what was happening. He was ashamed of himself as he found himself looking at them for longer than acceptable. But in the dark, it was impossible for them to see him, besides that they were far too busy with each other to notice him. He felt even more ashamed that the sight excited him the tiniest bit. He decided to walk away from this before he would do anything stupid, and he immediately entered the room at the end of the corridor on the left, opposite to Collier's room.

He found himself a bit out of breath by what he had just witnessed as he look off his clothes to his underwear, and went to lay in the soft queen bed. What he had seen was none of his business, but it had made him a little confused. Of course he had noticed the bond that Agnes shared with Bible, a bond that she did not share with any of the others. But this, he had not expected from either of them. Bible was a religious man. Agnes was a most respectable woman, he had figured… What would drive them _this _close together?

He tried to sleep. He felt frustrated that he had been so tired moments before, and now he simply could not sleep. Not even the comfort of the bed could help him fade away, even though it was the most comfortable bed he'd ever laid in. Rich people must have lived here.

After perhaps half an hour of trying, he got up and sat on the edge of the bed, thinking of anything that could help him sleep. But then he heard a soft cough on the balcony. Without doubt, he stood up and opened his doors to the balcony. Agnes was leaning on the railing, holding a cigarette in her right hand, as she just brought it to her lips, and she noticed Norman.

'Hey.' she said softly. 'Can't sleep?' 'No.' Norman replied. 'What about you? Why are you up?' Agnes sighed. 'The graze has taken a quite unfortunate place on my face, the side I always sleep on.' She smiled all of it away, but Norman knew she lied. Partially, at least. He had not yet decided whether he cared that she lied to him.

'Want one?' She had up a pack of cigarette that she had held in her left hand the entire time. She had no pockets. Norman realised it was Bible's shirt she was wearing, that covered her from chest to thighs. Norman did not smoke, and she knew, but he tried to give it a go and accept it. Perhaps it would calm him down and help him sleep.

Agnes lit it for him as he held it between his lips. 'Now, softly. Don't inhale all of it.' she told him, instructing him how to smoke a cigarette for the first time. Norman coughed anyway as he took it out of his mouth again, and Agnes smiled softly.

'I've never noticed that ring on you.' he said through his coughing, trying to change the subject from him failing to smoke a cigarette to something else. She looked down at the ring around the index finger of her right hand, and her smile remained on her face but diminished slightly.

'It's not mine.' she replied. 'Whose is it?' Norman put the cigarette to his mouth again, coughing less this time. Agnes sniffed. 'It's Bible's.' She, too, took another whiff.

Even though the ring had probably lost it's shine, and even got damaged a little bit in the fights Bible had had to endure during this war, the gold reflected a bit of moonlight. Norman noticed the plain golden ring had something engraved in it.

'What does it say?' Agnes sniffed again. '_Doris_.' Norman immediately felt like he had gone way too far over the line, and was shocked that Agnes had let him do that. He was even more shocked that she told him more before he could ask.

'Somewhere across the Atlantic there's an identical ring that says _Boyd_.' Norman swallowed. Not only was Bible a religious man sharing the bed with a woman outside of marriage… This was adultery. He was married. 'I wear it for him at times like these so he feels less guilt.' Norman felt as if Agnes knew that he had seen them. But she couldn't have… Right?

'He puts the burden on you?' Norman asked, and then he took a whiff without coughing. Agnes looked down at her hands. 'To me it's just a name. A name of a woman that betrayed the man I love.' Norman remained silent for several seconds, trying to form a reply to that.

'What did she do?' he asked, eventually. Agnes softly cleared her throat.

'Boyd has been in Africa and Europe fighting this war for almost five years now. He hasn't been back home since. But just a year ago, he got a letter from his sister stating that his wife had given birth to a son.' She fell silent, sniffed again.

'I'm so sorry.' Norman muttered. 'You don't need to feel sorry for _me_, Norman. Bible came to me in tears. He was absolutely devastated; I didn't know what to do. He didn't tell anybody else. He didn't want me to tell anybody else. But he knew from that moment that he would never want to spend another minute as that woman's husband.'

'But he still has the ring?' Norman asked. 'He'll have to go back home and ask both the court and church for a divorce. After that, I hope he throws it into the ocean.' She looked at the ring again. It sounded like she hated the thing but the way she wore it for him made it appear as if she cherished it as well. Her cigarette had burned up.

'Are you okay, Norman?' she then asked, changing the subject. 'Yeah.' He didn't need to know why she asked him that question. 'You too?' 'Yeah.' She smiled again, and came at him to embrace him into a firm hug. She held him long and tight, as if trying to squeeze out all the bad things that she felt at this moment. When she let him go again she smiled at him.

'Good night.' And she went back into Bible's room.

* * *

**A/N:** I am extremely curious to hear what you think of this new element/exposition in the story. I can't promise when the next chapter will be up, but hopefully it will be soon. Please leave me a review as I love reading them, and until next time!

Shaeme


	20. God Save The Queen

'_We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when. But I know we'll meet again, some sunny day._' It was a voice that woke up Norman. But the voice wasn't talking to him, it was singing. Very faintly in the distance, somewhere downstairs, Agnes was singing a song that Norman knew all too well. We'll Meet Again, by one or another British singer. Ever since the war had started for him, he hadn't woken up feeling as well as he did now. For once, he did not think about the fights to come, or the fights overcome, but all he thought about was the comfortable bed, and the distinct singing of Agnes, somewhere downstairs. Downstairs, that's where he should be going.

He lifted himself from the bed, got himself dressed quickly, and went down the stairs quietly. The smell of breakfast entered his nostrils, before the voice took away his attention again; only just now, he noticed that she was singing along to a phonograph.

'_So will you please say hello to the folks that I know? Tell them I won't be long. They'll be happy to know, that as you saw me go, I was singing this song._' As the chorus started again, Agnes walked through the hallway with a pan in her hands, encountering Norman.

'Good morning, Norman.' she said with a soft smile. She intended to walk along directly, but stopped herself in her footpaces, noticing Norman had come to a halt halfway down the stairs.

'I've made some soup, come and have breakfast. You've slept well, everyone's already down.' Then she did walk along into the dining room, and Norman followed her.

Boyd was sitting in an armchair in the corner of the room, at the window, next to the phonograph, reading his Bible, humming along to the music. Gordo and Grady were already at the table, clearly starving for breakfast, already having handed out the plates and cut up the bread. Don was at the table as well, slightly further away from the edge, sitting wide-legged, bare-chested, clearly waiting for Agnes to get back to nurse his wounds again. He looked satisfied with the fact that he had been blessed with a cigarette this gloomy morning nonetheless.

'Good morning, Norman.' he said with his deep as usual voice, after which he got distracted and paid attention to Agnes putting a great pan of soup on the table, and dividing the content over six bowls. 'Good morning, sergeant.' Norman replied.

'Breakfast is served.' Agnes then stated, and everyone huddled up around the table to eat. Bible said a very short grace, while Grady and Gordo couldn't wait to dive in. Agnes had managed to make a creamy pumpkin soup out of whatever she found (a pumpkin, probably), and Norman found it to be delicious, especially with the thick bread that was still warm from the oven.

When everyone was at least halfway through their bowl, Norman felt it appropriate to speak.

'What will we be doing next, Top?' Collier fidgeted with his spoon and bowl a little before answering honestly.

'I don't know, Norman. I honestly don't know, but we won't be getting anywhere with a broken tank that's parked two miles away. We'll have to wait for a rescue convoy of some sort to pass by. Then… I don't know. The war will be over soon.'

'Binkowski was coming after us, shouldn't he have found Fury already?' Agnes suggested. 'Perhaps.' Collier replied, after which he took another sip from his spoon.

'Doesn't mean he knows we're here. We'll have to wait it out, we'll do just fine out here.' Everybody shrugged, and initiated to eat the rest of their meal in silence, but within minutes, they were distracted by noise from outside. The noise of a motorised vehicle; the noise of a tank.

They all remained dead silent while exchanging mixed looks, but Wardaddy was the first to speak and hand out orders.

'Grady, Bible, I want you walk up to the door, but wait to open it. Grab anything to serve as a weapon if necessary.' They were completely out of weapons, and quite frankly in a most vulnerable place. 'Agnes, Gordo, you stay right here with me. Norman. I want you to get up and walk to that window _very_ slowly, and see what's out there.' Collier gestured to a window on the front side of the house, which was covered with sheer curtains. Norman nodded, and as Grady and Bible got up as well, he sneaked up on the window. Peeking through the blinds, he could immediately spot the tank that had come to a halt right in front of the house. Soon enough, he noticed people coming out, and within seconds he realised who it was. He turned around with a relieved smile on his face.

'It's Binkowski!' 'Bible, open up that door.' Collier commanded from afar while he got a cigarette from his breast pocket with a great smirk on his face.

'Binkowski.' Norman followed Grady, Bible and Gordo outside, finding Binkowski to be absolutely shocked by the fact that his comrades were still alive. He embraced all of them for a second.

'Well I be damned! I saw the entire fucking battlefield you created, I couldn't believe my eyes. But we couldn't find you guys.'

'Well we were here. We couldn't stay there.' Bible replied. 'We wouldn't have been here if it weren't for Angel.' Grady added. 'Boy, she took out about a hundred fucking Krauts with her sniper rifle from that far away hilltop, it nearly cost her her face.'

'Say what now?' Suddenly, Agnes stood in the doorway, followed by Collier, who had healed as much as being able to walk normally on his own.

'Angel…' It was clear that Binkowski first intended to smile, grin and embrace her, but when he saw the wound on her face –still looking very nasty, even after Bible took care of it-, his smile turned into a frown. 'Sweetheart, what happened?' She smiled it away, walked at him and hugged him tightly before talking.

'It's just a graze.' 'Are you sure? It looks properly fucked.' This time, Agnes chuckled, and Binkowski followed her in that. 'Thanks, serge.' she replied, and then she gave Wardaddy the space to talk to his friend.

'Binkowski, good to see you. And you guys.' He finally paid attention to the rest of Binkowski's crew. 'I suppose you've come to call us back. What's the next mission?' Binkowski sighed and scratched the back of his head, but he didn't seem distressed.

'Hitler is dead.' Everyone gasped. 'What?' Agnes spat out. 'The coward committed suicide together with his family. The war will be pretty much done from now on. The British and the Canadians have almost entirely taken over Berlin.' They were too shocked to say anything, so for a minute, they stood there in silence, before Boyd felt the need for clarification.

'So… The… The war is over?' Binkowski nodded silently, barely believing himself, but with a mad smile on his face.

'Oh my god!' For once, Agnes sounded like a proper teenage girl screaming out of happiness. Grady, Gordo and Bible started cheering as well, while Norman noticed Collier looking up at the sky, as if thanking the Lord above for this blessing. Agnes grabbed the first person she could reach, which was still Binkowski, and simply clutched onto him as tight as she could. And she laughed. She just laughed.

Norman always deep down thought her the type to be so tough that she was made for war. But the fact that she was so relieved now that it was over proved him terribly wrong. She even shed some tears of happiness as she skipped from Binkowski to Bible, who she barely managed not to kiss. Gordo, Grady and Norman got their share, but she ended up at Collier.

'Thank you.' she whispered through every one else's chanting and laughter. 'For what?' 'You know what. I wouldn't have been able to do it if you didn't teach me the things you did.' 'Don't be cheering too soon now.' She smiled, and kissed his cheek as she embraced him tightly. When she let him go, and went to celebrate with Binkowski's other crewmates, Collier found the time to initiate a most appropriate thing.

'All right boys, we know all that rests us. Binkowski?' He gave the honour to his friend to start singing the Star-Spangled Banner.

'_Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light. What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight's last gleaming._' When Agnes heard them sing their anthem, she decided to counteract. She was the one that saved them after all.

'_God save our gracious Queen! Long live our noble Queen! God save our Queen. Send her victorious, happy and glorious! Long to reign over us. God save the Queen!_' The battles of anthems was over quickly, and even though it had been one against ten others, it was clear that Agnes' British anthem had won because she had sang it so beautifully. Everything was merry, and it couldn't get merrier.

'All right folks, let's head back to Baker Company. We wouldn't want to miss the party they're setting up.'


	21. The White Cliffs of Dover

Music could already be heard from outside the venue, but that didn't stop Agnes from spurring her mates to walk just a bit quicker. The town was celebrating, but now that it was night time, the American army had caught word of a dance being organised in the town hall. Now obviously, as soon as Agnes had caught word of it, it was impossible for the rest of the crew to pass on this party. She hadn't been able to demonstrate much of what she was truly like without fighting a war, but this would be the closest they would get for now, and they had found out that she probably loved to dance. She could simply not wait to get in.

She had confiscated the most beautiful evening dress from an empty residence inside the town that Binkowski and his crew had brought them to after finding them, where Baker Company was rested as well. The dress was one with a very dark red body, quite tight, with a square cut, and a white, loose skirt that came down to just above her knees. She hadn't had much time to do anything with her hair (as Norman guessed she had wanted to, as according to him every girl would do before a night out), but she braided it the way she always does to put it a way, a little bit neater this time.

She rest of them were wearing their regular clothes, but had taken the effort of washing themselves _and _their attire. With clean shaved faces (apart from Bible's moustache of course), they stepped into the town hall, Agnes being the centre of attention to anybody who saw them walking in. Norman was surprised at how quickly the town had managed to decorate an entire hall, regulate drinks _and_ invite a Big Band to play. Swing music was already blasting through their trumpets.

'America, land of the great,' Collier muttered to just his comrades as he referred to the fact that the German band was playing American swing music, probably as a symbol of overthrowing the Nazi regime one last time.

'Great Britain, land of hope and glory,' Agnes replied with a soft smirk on her face. She hadn't given up the competence between their two countries ever since the war had come to an end. After just a couple of seconds inside the place, they were already approached by one Baker Company soldier.

'Sergeant Collier, good to see you well and alive.'

'You too, Miles,' Don replied, and then Sergeant Miles turned to Agnes. 'Miss Towler, might I say that you look stunning this evening,' he said very politely. Bible put his hands into his pockets.

'Don't be getting loose and cheeky now,' Boyd muttered, but with an obvious playful grin on his face. Norman looked at him and concluded to himself that now that the war was over Bible was ready for something. Perhaps he was ready to not keep secrets anymore…

'Not to worry, Swan, I've been trying to talk to this German girl all night but I just can't get the hang of it, she understands nothing of what I'm trying to tell her,' Miles grinned. Don responded to that by approaching and putting a hand on his shoulder, turning him back into the direction of the crowd. 'Let me help you out with that, pal.' They walked off, as Agnes put her arm through Grady's, feeling his uncomfortableness as a rough male presence at a dancing party.

'Let's go get some drinks,' she said happily, as she was already pulling along Grady. Bible, Gordo and Norman followed. After they got their punch, they went to stand in the chatting crowd. The room seemed to have been divided up into a chatting crowd and a dancing crowd. Well, the dance floor wasn't exactly crowded. There were only a few couples dancing. At least one too few if it were up to Agnes.

'So,' She made a point of it to sound extremely British. 'What say you, Boyd? Will you take a girl out dancing?' Bible grinned at her as she smiled at him as innocently as possible.

'I don't know if I can do that, miss. See I'm a just a tank gunner, not much good at anything else,' he replied. Agnes immediately decided not to play his game of hard to get. He was just fishing for one thing or another.

'Fine. Grady?' 'You don't actually see me dancing, do you?' She sighed.

'Gordo?' 'I can dance the Concheros…' he muttered, indicating that he wouldn't be the ideal dancing partner.

'Norman then, let's go.' Norman contemplated. He would absolutely adore dancing with Agnes, but he was shy. His mother had put him on dancing lessons when he was fifteen, but that was a few years ago, and he had never been the best of the class… Would he dare to? Would he risk going down in front of all these tough soldiers and German people? He had waited too long.

'Angel. Come here. These German girls are terrible at the jitterbug, the British less so, I should hope? ' Binkowski had appeared from the crowd in an instance and took Agnes by the hand immediately.

'Let's show them how it's done. On your feet.' Agnes gave Norman a promising smile. Just as a new song started, Binkowski took Agnes to the dance floor. A new song just started, which made it clear to Norman that this band was _extremely _fond of American music. He recognised it from a movie, which he had seen just a few months ago, at the cinema in the center of Pittsburgh. His sister had insisted on seeing it with him, it was called _Swing Fever_ if he had remembered it right. All that he remembered was actress Jean Veloz dancing marvellously to a song called _One Girl and Two Boys,_. That was the song this German American band started playing (without vocals, as no singer could speak proper English) just as Agnes first laid her hand on Binkowski's shoulder. Neither of them probably knew the song. Agnes not only because she was British, but because she probably hadn't been home ever since 1943…

At the first swing that Binkowski pulled Agnes into, everybody seemed mesmerised at the first glance. As if everybody knew that now was the time for the real dancers to shine. And yes, Agnes was amazing. Aided by the brilliant guidance of Binkowski (about which Norman was even _more_ surprised, since he hadn't thought Binkowski to be much of a dancer at all), her feet work was swift and quick. The most impressive was her feeling of the music. Her hips and shoulders worked together in a way of making her body swing in the most gracious and subtle way. And she let herself be guided along the entire way. Not once did she look surprised at where Binkowski steered her every time he pushed her into a twirl, not even when he decided to pick her up and throw her a few feet into the air. They were amazing, and everybody enjoyed looking at them and taking an example. Because finally, Agnes could be a girl again.

When the song was over, people applauded them, and they both took it up in their glory. Agnes took a bow, and a kiss on the cheek from Binkowski, after which they parted ways, and Agnes sought her other friends in the crowd.

'I am amazed.' Grady spoke first. 'You'd better be, I didn't take those dancing classes for nothing.' Agnes replied, after which she immediately turned to Bible, who had an amused, but still slightly jealous grin on his face.

'What'd'ya say to that Bible boy? Do you regret not taking a girl out dancing?'

'Hmmm, you watch your ground there, you don't know what the future holds. But I must admit that I would've done you no good compared to Mr. Binkowski here…' He looked at Binkowski, who had come to join them as well.

'That's still Sergeant Binkowski to you, boy.' Binkowski replied, impersonating a caricature that reminded Norman of a douchebag county sheriff that roamed around Pittsburgh every once in a while.

As soon as the band started a new song, this time a song that everybody recognised, Collier finally turned up. Again, there was no singer, but The White Cliffs of Dover wasn't a tune unrecognisable without the wonderful Vera Lynn singing along to it.

'Binkowski, I see you've still got the moves, you old bastard.' he said. 'Hey now, hey now, you think 39 is that bad? I don't nearly square out to you.' Don grinned. 'Let's not get any further into that. Agnes.' He turned to her.

'Make this dance mine, if you will.' 'Oh, serge, I am ever so flattered.' she replied, in the most British accent Norman had ever heard. She took his hand and followed him onto the dance floor, that wasn't cleared of people this time, as everyone took their chance to have a slow dance with their German honey. Again, Bible had missed his chance.

'Just know that if it hadn't been for those big-ass tweezers fucking up my shoulder it would've been me tossing you around like that, if that's what they call dancing these days.' Don said as he grabbed Agnes' waist and she put her hand on his shoulder. Agnes giggled.

'Are you sure it wasn't just the bullet?' she laughed. 'Oh, you bet. It's all your fault.' Agnes sighed satisfied. 'Well, at least you're still alive because of me.' Don's grin slightly disappeared from his face.

'And you don't know how grateful I am for that. How thankful I am for you. I really mean that, Agnes. Forgive me.' She fell silent for a second, but then decided what she was going to say.

'There is nothing to forgive.' she simply said. To break the silence that followed, as she grabbed on a bit tighter to him, she finally figured what she needed to hear. She looked down to his chest, as he looked over her head, staring across the room.

'Secret or promise?' she softly asked, only for him to hear. 'Promise.' he replied without doubt. She looked up at him, and they made close eye-contact.

'Promise me that we'll stay together after everything is over. All of us, even Norman. Promise me.' He looked concerned over the heartfelt seriousness that she had stated that with, as if he was frustrated, sad and hopeful at the same time. Then he broke their eye contact as he pulled her into a tight hug, instead of dancing stance. He closed his eyes for a second before looking around the room again, feeling Agnes' clinging onto his shoulders like a small child not wanting to let go of its mother.

'I promise, Angel.'

* * *

**A/N:** It's been quite a while again! But guess what? The story is still not over ;) The crew's still got a couple of plot lines coming up for them in Germany, but I am also planning to write a bit further about life after the war. However, as always, I can't promise when the next chapter will be up, and to be honest; it will probably be a while. Until that time, I do hope you will find the patience to wait, or perhaps re-read the story, if you like it so much, hehe. Please leave a review (I love reading those) and until next time! Shaeme


	22. Corporal Towler

'Watch yourself.' Grady pulled Norman backwards before he was almost hit by one of the trucks driving by. He didn't mind, he wasn't scared. Everyone was celebrating.

The crew had moved to the west, to a much larger city than the small town they had resided in before, a little closer to Holland, and a little closer to home... The whole city was out and about on the streets, celebrating. They were finally free, helped by the Americans, British and the Canadians. Those were the army platoons driving by in trucks, waving back to everyone cheering at them, and pulling pretty girls onto the truck to ride with them. The Fury crew was on the ground. They were not interested in driving around their tank, and were much happier among the people, celebrating and drinking good whisky.

'M'lady.' Agnes had been standing between Bible and Collier, but that didn't stop one of the British driving by to approach her. Well, approach? He stopped his vehicle and took off his hat to her courteously.

'Might I interest you in a ride?' He was very obviously drunk, which is why it made Agnes laugh.

'I've had enough rides in army vehicles in the past three years, thank you.' Only now, the drunken soldier noticed that she was in her British army uniform, but that didn't make him bugger off either way.

'Oh my god, it's you, isn't it?' Agnes seemed a bit confused and surprised as the soldier jumped off his truck.

'Corporal Towler.' He saluted her after he had taken a closer look at her first.

'Stand down, soldier,' Agnes grinned.

'I have heard so much about you. I think I'm right to say that the entire British army owes you their gratitude.' He looked back at his comrades still in the truck, and they all nodded. Norman noticed how Agnes blushed.

'Simply a series of very fortunate events, I'm afraid. I was just trying to save my own life, and theirs.' She slyly looked at the rest of the Fury crew.

'Well, Corporal, if I were an officer, I would be giving you all the medals there could possibly be, if I may be so kind.' Agnes laughed.

'You may. Now go on, back in your truck, there's plenty of parties to attend for good lads like you lot.' She greeted all the men in the vehicle before they rode off again, then when they were gone, she sighed, satisfied.

'That's just the little bit of home that I missed.' British lads, Norman figured. Agnes turned to Bible and pat his chest.

'I'm going into that bar right there to get us a couple of beers, who wants one?' Norman accepted, even though he never had beer before, and Grady and Gordo had had enough of their whisky. Bible and Collier were good.

'Very well.' She left off with a smile on her face. Now, Norman dared turn to Collier.

'Why do you think so many people know her?' It hadn't been the first time she had been recognised. Collier grinned.

'Well nobody wanted to know about the story of how she killed twelve Krauts by herself to save a couple of Americans, because in that same story, five British soldiers didn't make it. Now there's the story of how she killed a hundred Krauts to save that same couple of Americans, now that is a lot more impressive, and impressive stories go 'round in the army, son.'

'I'd want to hear about the first story.' Collier grinned again, softly this time.

'Maybe another time, Norman.' Norman didn't get the opportunity to reply. All he could hear after that were gunshots, and people screaming. People running for their lives...

'Everybody get down!' Multiple people yelled that, including Collier, but more people started running than getting down. Within seconds, the square was almost cleared, which made all the soldiers in their trucks, guns included, able to spot the target. A lost Kraut that hadn't been caught yet, shooting from a window. A few people had already been taken down, but that stopped when the window got piled with bullets and the sole Kraut was obviously dead.

'Get an aid station ready!' One Canadian yelled, as everyone got up again. People who had taken shelter in houses were not prepared to come out yet, however. A few people laid on the ground, either dead or wounded, but numbers were only small.

'Norman! Go on into that bar, check if Agnes is okay,' Collier ordered. Norman nodded, and set on his way. His way wasn't long. He looked around as he went, to people carefully coming back out of the bar, crying, people on the ground. The ground... He found Agnes before he got to the bar.

'Sergeant!' He'd never yelled this loudly before, he thought. Never this heartfelt. Agnes was on the ground, bleeding.

'Sergeant!' he yelled again as he ran at her, and fell to his knees next to her. Her eyes were shot, and blood was streaming from her chest. Bible was first to arrive at the scene after Norman. 'Agnes! Fuck! Get a medic! Get a fucking medic!' Norman looked at him, shocked.

'You _are_ a medic!' Bible looked at back at him, tears already in his eyes. He put his hands and pressed on her chest, where the bullet had hit her to stop the bleeding, but started crying nonetheless.

'I don't know what to do, I don't know what to fucking do...' he cried, panicking severely.

Collier arrived at the scene within seconds.

'Fuck! Where'd she get hit?!' He looked at Bible's hands. 'Get your hands away, if the bullet hasn't already hit the heart you might push it there!' Bible let go of her immediately, his hands soaked in her blood, crying.

'Fuck, fucking hell.' Gordo and Grady stood around them as well, multiple people were watching them.

'Is she gonna die?' Bible had completely lost himself. The calm man he was had made place for a desperately crying, panicking boy.

'Everyone out of the way!' Collier yelled, before he bent down and swept her off the ground. Her head fell backwards immediately, just as her arms, loosely swinging down. The crowd that had gathered parted as if Collier, with Agnes in his arms, was Moses parting the sea as he started walking.

'Where's the nearest hospital?!' A Canadian soldier pointed in the right direction.

'Just one block down!' Collier did his best to run, but realised he couldn't. Agnes was too heavy, and shaking her up wouldn't improve her situation. She needed to bloody wake up.

'Agnes please.' Boyd had managed to calm down the slightest bit, and walked beside Collier, trying to support Agnes' head. The rest of the crew desperately pushed everybody out of the way, which made it so it didn't take too long for them to reach the hospital. Collier stormed inside after Grady and Gordo slammed the doors open, and yelled at the first nurse he could find.

'I need a surgeon here, now!' The nurse was a young, blonde girl, who was clearly already scared of him, but pointed him to a bed immediately. Collier managed to carefully lay her down, and then immediately ripped open her jacket. Her chest was soaking of blood.

'She's been shot in the chest, we need a surgeon!' Gordo yelled again. A head nurse arrived at the scene immediately, and had a look at Agnes.

'Has she been hit in the heart?' she asked Bible. Yes... Bible wore his medic arm band, but he had no idea what to even do with it.

'I don't think so, she needs surgery that bullet needs to be removed.' He breathed heavily, panicking, and almost out of breath.

'I will run a blood test on her,' the younger nurse replied, already trying to get to, but Bible protested.

'She's O-negative, she can only receive O-negative, I will give her my blood.' He already started rolling up his sleeves, when everyone was suddenly distracted by Agnes. Her breath had suddenly started panicking: she had woken up.

'Ah! Help!' She was crying, and started yelling for help. She was completely panicking and probably had no idea where she was. Collier was already next to her, and Bible had to do his best not to approach her, but to keep talking to the nurse, now that a proper surgeon had finally arrived.

'Ooh, ssh. Hush, hush, hush, girl, you're okay, you're okay.' Agnes had grabbed onto Collier's hand, who had kneeled down next to her bed. She was looking in his eyes, which relieved him, to know that she was actually conscious.

'Help, help, please!' Agnes cried, tears streaming down her face, breathing superficially and shortly, before her breathing stopped, and her eyes fell shut. Bible turned around, his eyes big.

'Is she dead?' He couldn't even believe himself, and that he was asking this question. Collier felt her pulse in her wrist, and then shook his head.

'She's fighting,' he muttered, after which he suddenly got up again, and walked towards the young nurse, standing in front of her, intimidating her.

'Listen to me _real_ careful. You will bring an infusion needle, and you will harvest as much of Boyd's blood here as you can, and don't you _dare_ stock the blood for any other use.' The nurse nodded, and then ran off to get her supplies. Collier turned to the surgeon that had arrived.

'She needs to live. Save her.'


End file.
